Peeved over “questioning” of the media on the Afzal Guru mercy plea issue, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday cracked a gag order against the media by restricting its entry in the city government headquarters.
The Delhi Secretariat on Wednesday had restricted the media from entering the corridors where offices of state ministers are located. The government headquarters also had adequate security to restrict journalists.
A senior Delhi government official said that the restrictions and the deployment of security were on the orders of the Delhi chief minsiter’s office. The officials added that the restrictions were also for daily visitors at the secretariat. “It was expected that the Delhi government officials would be briefing the media, which is why necessary steps were taken to make sure that at the time of a press briefing, media and government officials are not disturbed by the presence of visitors,” said a Delhi government official.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit was expected to give a short-briefing to the media after attending three book launches at the Delhi Secretariat. The city government headquarters had a huge media presence, who had gathered to know Ms Dikshit’s reaction on Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru’s mercy petition status.
However, the chief minister, after two-hour long book launches, met the media for a very short period. She said, “The details of Afzal’s mercy petition will be revealed on Saturday.” Meanwhile, a senior Delhi government official pointed out that the Delhi government wants Afzal’s hanging to take place. However, they are waiting for the President’s decision on the matter.
The Delhi Secretariat is the second state government headquarters where the media entry was restricted.
Earlier last year, media was restricted to enter in many areas of the UP government’s secretariat in Lucknow. The directions for the restrictions were given by the UP chief minister Mayawati.