BARWALA (Hisar): They were supposed to arrest a godman defying court orders, but they ended up clobbering the journalists. In the daylong clashes between controversial preacher Rampal's armed militia and Haryana police on Tuesday, more than 200 people were injured, among whom were at least 70 journalists, attacked by cops after the Baba's followers charged at them.

Rampal, summoned by the Punjab and Haryana high court for contempt by failing to appear in a murder case, continued to elude the police inside his fortified ashram, where his armed and dangerous followers allegedly forcibly held people including women and children as human shields.

No sooner did the cops try to enter Rampal's Satlok Ashram at around 11.30am to arrest him, than the "Baba's commandos" — this is what they call themselves — allegedly fired at them. As the cops retreated, they lathi-charged journalists covering the conflict, wounding at least 25 of them, some of them grievously. More were hurt later.

BARWALA (Hisar): They were supposed to arrest a godman defying court orders, but they ended up clobbering the journalists. In the daylong clashes between controversial preacher Rampal's armed militia and Haryana police on Tuesday, more than 200 people were injured, among whom were at least 70 journalists, attacked by cops after the Baba's followers charged at them.

Rampal, summoned by the Punjab and Haryana high court for contempt by failing to appear in a murder case, continued to elude the police inside his fortified ashram, where his armed and dangerous followers allegedly forcibly held people including women and children as human shields.

No sooner did the cops try to enter Rampal's Satlok Ashram at around 11.30am to arrest him, than the "Baba's commandos" — this is what they call themselves — allegedly fired at them. As the cops retreated, they lathi-charged journalists covering the conflict, wounding at least 25 of them, some of them grievously. More were hurt later.

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Bringing down a side wall of the ashram with the help of earth-moving machines, the police used water cannon and teargas shells and staged a lathicharge to make their way in. The operation was abruptly halted around 4pm when the police discovered a pile of LPG gas cylinders while breaking the ashram's rear wall. It was feared that desperate followers of the godman could trigger an inferno by igniting the cylinders.

Police use batons and water cannon to disperse supporters of controversial guru Sant Rampal outside Satlok Ashram in Hisar on Tuesday. (PTI photo)

According to reporters from other media houses, policemen attacked NDTV cameramen and also damaged OB vans outside the ashram. Eyewitnesses corroborated this saying cops targeted TV cameras and smashed them. Times Now correspondent Bhavtosh Singh and cameramen Yogesh Bhardwaj and Imtiaz were also injured and their equipment damaged in the attack by the police. Video footage of the assault showed policemen chasing journalists and beating them.

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Pitched battles, however, between cops and Rampal's followers continued. Seeing the police charge, 50 followers doused themselves with fuel threatening self-immolation, but were neutralized by water cannons. Rampal's commandos then lobbed petrol bombs, acid pouches, stones and fired gunshots from strategically-built posts on the roof of the ashram. The skirmish left 105 cops and 85 followers injured. All the wounded were admitted to nearby hospitals. While nine cops suffered serious injuries, one woman follower was found burnt.

READ ALSO: Markandey Katju condemns attack on media persons in Hisar, seeks probe

Haryana DGP S N Vasisth said there was no casualty so far and the injured cops as well as ashram followers were taken to hospitals. He said the police had received calls from inside the ashram on Tuesday morning complaining of wrongful confinement by the ashram management. Several followers evacuated by cops confirmed that they were not allowed to leave the premises by the ashram authorities for many days.

The 63-year-old junior engineer-turned-preacher is said to be holed up in the ashram despite rumours to the contrary. A large number of members of Rampal's 'army' arrested by cops claimed that ashram authorities had retained their arms licences and said there was an illegal weapons cache in the ashram.

Hundreds of women and children rescued from the ashram were whisked away in 10 buses and dropped at the railways station and bus stand.

Supporters of Rampal throw bricks and stones at police during a protest outside his ashram in Hisar. (Reuters photo)

On the attack on journalists, the DGP said it was unfortunate and promised to conduct an inquiry. "Following requests from mediapersons we directed officers to take 86 journalists to the spot. Till now we don't have reports about attack by cops on mediapersons," DGP Vashisht said in a statement.

Hisar-based journalists, Surender and Sunil, managed to escape from the conflict zone and were spotted by an ambulance driver who rushed them to the hospital. Sunil said, "I was covering the police action and a cop thrashed me. I told him that I was a journalist but that did not deter him. I somehow managed to get away from him finally."

Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju condemned the police action against journalists. "Media freedom is a guaranteed fundamental right under the Constitution. The attack by the police on mediapersons in Hisar today is totally unacceptable in a democracy," Katju said in a statement in New Delhi.