Indian reporter in flood video scandal sacked

NEW DELHI (AFP) — An Indian television journalist who reported on deadly floods in the north of the country while perched on a survivor’s shoulders has been sacked, the head of the channel told AFP on Wednesday.

“What he did was very inhuman. You cannot ride on someone’s back for a story. We terminated him on Tuesday,” said Nishant Chaturvedi, channel head at News Express.

Narayan Pargaien, reporting on the flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand state, triggered outrage after a video clip went viral on the Internet showing him speaking into the camera while sitting on the shoulders of a local villager.

The reporter claimed that the survivor, who can be seen wobbling under the strain while standing in ankle-high water, had hoisted him onto his shoulders as a sign of respect.

The man “wanted to show me some respect, as it was the first time someone of my level had visited his house,” Pargaien said in an interview to Indian media website newslaundry.com on Tuesday.