India orders probe into ‘mercilessly beaten' journalist
The National Human Rights Commission demanded Odisha police provide a report within two weeks. (EPA Images pic)
NEW DELHI : India's human rights body demanded on Friday that police investigate the brutal assault of a journalist who was tied, beaten and paraded through a village while reporting on alleged corruption.
Video footage circulated on social media showed journalist Bijay Pradhan being beaten up on May 25 after he went to report on construction of a housing scheme in the eastern state of Odisha.
'Reportedly, he was suddenly attacked… The victim's legs and hands were tied, and he was paraded through the village before being tied to a pole and mercilessly beaten,' the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Friday.
It demanded police in Odisha provide a report within two weeks.
'The victim's mobile phones and video camera were also smashed by the perpetrators, and he was threatened not to report anything about the incident,' the NHRC added in a statement.
Four people suspected of assaulting the journalist have been arrested, according to media reports.
India, where incidents of intimidation and assaulting journalists are not uncommon, is ranked 151 on the World Press Freedom Index, run by Reporters Without Borders.
In January, India's media watchdog demanded a thorough investigation after the battered body of a journalist, who had widely reported on corruption in neighbouring Chhattisgarh state, was found stuffed in a septic tank covered with concrete.
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