Indian journalist fired for reporting from on top of a flood victim's shoulders (VIDEO)

GlobalPost
The World

An Indian TV reporter has been fired after he reported about the country's damaging floods from on top of a victim's shoulders. 

Narayan Pargaien was reporting from Uttarakhand state, one of the areas hardest-hit by the disaster, when he clambered onto a victim's shoulders to do his stand-up.

News Express, his employer, called Pargaien's behavior "inhuman" and "a grave misconduct which goes against cultural values of our Channel."

"You cannot ride on someone's back for a story. We terminated him on Tuesday," Nishant Chaturvedi, the head of the channel, told Agence France-Presse

Though News Express didn't air the footage, it has been leaked online and viewed over 2,000 times on YouTube.

Pargaien has been in journalism for over 17 years, he told news website News Laundry. He said that the man “wanted to show me some respect, as it was the first time someone of my level had visited his house. So while crossing the river he offered to help by carrying me ... between which, I thought of reporting," Pargaien said, according to AFP. 

More from GlobalPost: India floods: Death toll surpasses 600 as thousands remain stranded

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