If you open the website of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, you are greeted with the rich history of an organisation that is as old as the republic. The statutory body came into existence under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment on February 24, 1952, four years after the parliament passed the Employees’ State Insurance Act. Its first honorary beneficiary was no less than India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. “The declaration form bearing his signature is a prized possession of the corporation,” the ESIC declares on its website.

Today, the ESIC provides social security and medical services to around 3.5 crore workers across India. It boasts of a network of 45 hospitals that provides daily services to thousands of people, most of them from lower socioeconomic strata of society.

Yet, on Tuesday, during a lockdown aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic, the ESIC’s celebrated record meant nothing in the national capital. Republic TV reporter Jitender Chauhan, driven more by sensationalism than sensibility, tried to shame a senior doctor at the corporation by questioning his credentials. Worse, the ESIC was denounced on air as just an ordinary insurance provider.

Anish Singhal, medical superintendent of the ESIC’s 300-bedded hospital in Noida, was on his way to work. Having been stopped by the police for an identity check on the Delhi-Noida-Delhi flyway, Singhal had come out of his car and was speaking with the officials on duty. Just then, Chauhan, who was standing nearby, jumped into the scene, stuck out his mic and attempted to corner the doctor.

The reporter was looking for violators of the lockdown. Starting Tuesday morning, almost all states had imposed curfew-like restrictions to halt the spread of the virus. In the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown to the entire country for 21 days.

Guidelines released by the central and state governments allow only “essential services” personnel to leave their homes. This naturally includes doctors and other healthcare workers, as well as journalists. But Chauhan, true to his TV channel’s trademark style, didn’t bother verifying if Singhal was an essential services personnel. He seemed to have made up his mind that he wasn’t.

“We are joining from the DND flyover in Delhi. And here, we have seen that some people are not cooperating with the police,” he said. Pointing to Singhal, he added, “This one is repeatedly arguing with the police.”

Chauhan started his report speaking into the camera and then walked over to Singhal.