NEW DELHI: The centre has decided to curate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the safety and security of journalists after three assailants, posing as media persons, shot dead Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj.
The SOPs will be taken up by the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, sources confirmed.
Bullets were fired towards Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed while the duo were being taken for a medical test in Pragyaraj on Satruday. Co incidently the attack by assailants who posed as fake journalists was caught by the camera.
Sources also added that the MHA will convene with top officials and put up a mechanism for the journalists, asking them to follow certain norms during their coverage.
Atiq was killed the same day, his 19-year-old son Asad, who was also wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, was buried after he was shot dead in an encounter by UP Police STF on Thursday. Umesh Pal was a key witness in the 2005 murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, for which, Atiq had been serving a sentence in jail.
The police custody remand of Atiq and his brother from April 13, was to end at 5 pm on Sunday.