Delhi HC orders protection to MP journalist who fled Bhind following ‘abuse, harassment and stripping at police station'
The Delhi High Court Wednesday ordered police protection to a journalist who was allegedly harassed, threatened, and stripped inside a police station in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind earlier this month. While a detailed order is awaited, Justice Ravinder Dudeja orally said the court will direct the Delhi Police to grant protection for 'at least two months'.
Journalist Amarkant Singh Chouhan, Bhind bureau chief of the Swaraj Express news channel, had sought relief from the high court, citing 'reasonable threats to his life and personal liberty' as well as that of his family, 'particularly at the hands of SP Asit Yadav of Bhind', after having fled to Delhi.
According to the journalist, the SP 'was displeased about the extensive reporting about the illegal sand mining activities in the Chambal river that are carried out by the sand mafia in connivance with the local police.'
While the petition also sought the high court to call for a status report into the incident from the Madhya Pradesh Police, Justice Dudeja indicated that it would be appropriate to pursue the remedy before the Madhya Pradesh High Court instead. Highlighting the 'egregious' facts of the case, advocate Warisha Farasat, appearing for Chouhan, said they shall not press for the status report.
According to Chouhan's petition, on May 1, he and another journalist Shashikant Jatav were 'invited' to have a cup of tea with Asit Yadav, Superintendent of Police (SP), Bhind, at his chambers, where 'they were physically assaulted and battered by SP Asit Yadav and his subordinates.'
'Further, more than half a dozen other journalists were also present in the SP Asit Yadav's chamber, who had all been stripped down to their undergarments before being physically assaulted and battered prior to their arrival,' Chouhan detailed.
On May 4, Chouhan and Jatav were on their way from Gwalior to Delhi 'to meet (MP) Jyotiraditya Scindia to apprise him of their plight' when they were 'picked up by one Saurabh Sharma, another journalist, on the pretext of going to Delhi by road', Chouhan stated. They were then, instead, taken to a nearby dhaba where some police officials were waiting. They took the two journalists to the SP's bungalow to work out a 'compromise', and directed that they should no longer pursue the matter of being assaulted by Bhind Police officials on May 1, and drop the charges.
They were once again summoned by the SP to his office on May 5, 'where they were forced to record a video statement in the presence of other police officials, stating that all matters between them and the police have been 'resolved',' the petition stated. The video was then circulated by the Bhind police through WhatsApp with the intention of 'destroying the credibility' of the two journalists, the petition contended.
On May 19, the two fled to Delhi to file a complaint with the Press Council of India and the National Human Rights Commission.
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