Press Council of India (PCI) Chairman Markandey Katju on Friday sent out a stern warning to police and paramilitary forces "not to commit any violence on media persons, otherwise they will face criminal proceedings which the Press Council will launch against them."

He was provoked to issue the warning on the Jammu and Kashmir police justifying a recent assault on some journalists in Srinagar during a lathi-charge on an unruly mob on the ground that "journalists could not be differentiated from the rest of the mob."

"I do not agree with the police version. I am informed that the journalists had video cameras and other equipment, which clearly distinguished them from the rest of the crowd. At any event, it is obvious that when a journalist is being attacked, he is bound to tell the police that he is a journalist," he said in a letter to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Justice (retd) Katju, noting noted that he did not respond as yet to the mail asking for comments and action taken.

He said he was also writing a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary, Union Home Secretary, and all the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries/Home Secretaries of all the States in India, and all the Chief Secretaries of Union Territories that "I am not going to accept violence on journalists by the police or para military forces as it is the duty of the Press Council under section 13 of the Press Council Act to uphold the freedom of the Press."

Justice Katju's letter reads like a judgement he was delivering on the issue, typical of the strong rulings he used to deliver as a judge of the Supreme Court from which he retired early this year.

He affirmed that a journalist while covering an incident is only doing his job. "He is like a lawyer who defends his client. Just as a lawyer cannot be equated with his client, so also a journalist cannot be equated with the crowd. A lawyer may defend a murderer, but that does not make him a murderer. Similarly, a journalist is only doing his duty of conveying information to the public, and he enjoys the fundamental right of freedom of the media guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India."