India Tomorrow
Shamli (Uttar Pradesh)/ New Delhi, June 12— Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel thrashed a journalist who was covering a train derailment near Dhimanpura in the early hours of Wednesday.
GRP personnel who were present on the spot, abused, kicked and beat up Amit Sharma of News 24 TV channel. They snatched his camera.
The journalist said that the cops refused to listen to him and continued to thrash him.
“I was locked up, stripped and they urinated upon right into my mouth,” Sharma said.
Several scribes rushed to the police station on learning about the incident and put the video footage of cops beating up Amit Sharma on the social media. The journalists also contacted senior officials at the police headquarters.
Station House Officer Rakesh Kumar and GRP constable Sunil Kumar have been suspended and a probe has been ordered into the incident.
The journalist was later released.
Shamli’s Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Pandey said that the senior officials had been apprised of the incident which was “unfortunate” and strict action would be taken against the accused.
Media Outraged
Several journalists have expressed outrage over the Shamli incident.
Senior journalist Manak Gupta, who is also Executive Editor of News24 TV channel tweeted:
“अपने UP का जंगलराज देखिए @myogiadityanath जी. शामली में न्यूज़ 24 के रिपोर्टर अमित शर्मा के साथ ये मारपीट सिर्फ़ इसलिए की जा रही है क्योंकि इसने रेलवे में भ्रष्टाचार पर स्टोरी की थी. अब लॉक अप में है @yadavakhilesh @Mayawati @priyankagandhi @RahulGandhi”
“पत्रकार से नाराज़ एक GRP इन्स्पेक्टर उसे सरेआम पीट सकता है, लॉक अप में डाल कर उसके मुँह में पेशाब कर सकता है. फिर मीडिया के सामने बैठ कर इतरा भी सकता है. UP में सब मुमकिन है @myogiadityanath @yadavakhilesh @Mayawati @priyankagandhi @RahulGandhi”
“PM @narendramodi जी, आप कहते हैं ‘न खाऊँगा, न खाने दूँगा.’ जो खाने वालों को इक्स्पोज़ करेगा, उन्हें कौन बचाएगा? @PiyushGoyal @PMOIndia @myogiadityanath @Uppolice”
Here are comments of some other journalists:
Abhisar Sharma: “Unpardonable. This is an attempt to murder. Look at the rage of the GRP personnel caught in the act by the reporter. Shameful.”
Gaurav Pandhi: “Complete Gundaraj in UP under @myogiadityanath’s watch! Instead of maintaining law & order in the state, @UPPolice goes berserk filing cases against journalists, GRP beats & locks up a journalist and on Twitter UP Police tries to intimidate anyone who Qns/ exposes the BJP!”
–With Inputs from IANS
