Women journalists on Tuesday staged a dharna in front of chief minister’s office in Hyderabad seeking his immediate intervention on the ‘illegal’ ban on media in the new state of Telangana.

Prominent news channels, including Tv9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi, have been blacked out by cable operators for the past 90 days. A large number of women journalists staged protest as the state government is maintaining silence over the issue.

Reports said, during the protest, the police forcibly tried removing the journalists from the area and misbehaved with them. Cameramen too were pushed out of the place and their cameras were thrown away. All the journalists were detained at Goshamahal police station, where they are staging a sit in dharna against police atrocities demanding immediate lift of ban on media.

In June 2009, TV9 had aired a satirical show, which according to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) was derogatory to the MLAs, MPs and MLCs. On the other hand, the other news channel ABN Andhrajyothi TV had allegedly brought out a news report in its newspaper showing TRS in “bad light”.