"Ashwini Malhotra, a journalist with a news channel, was shopping with his family members when some persons in an inebriated condition teased a girl," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sarabjit Singh said.
Passersby, including Malhotra, objected to the teasing, he said, adding the journalist was attacked when he tried to inform the police.
Malhotra was taken to the district hospital.
Eyewitnesses said some family members accompanying the journalist were also targeted.
Singh said none will be spared, when asked whether the culprits were close to a former MLA.
The incident comes five days after an assistant sub-inspector of police was shot dead allegedly by a ruling SAD leader and his associates in Amritsar when the cop tried to resist his daughter's harassment by them, sparking a national outrage.
Malhotra said "they started beating me the moment they came. At least 20-30 people were there, all of them drunk. The person I stopped too had a bottle of liquor with him".
