NHRC notice to UP DGP over journalist’s thrashing

Lucknow, June 14

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports on the thrashing of a journalist in Shamli, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police demanding a report within four weeks.

The NHRC has also sought the action-taken report against the guilty public servants and the status of FIR registered against them.

The NHRC said, “Just a few hours after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a journalist, another TV journalist in West UP’s Shamli district was assaulted by the SHO of the Government Railway Police on the Tuesday night (June 11). He, along with a constable, was booked and suspended after videos of the attack went viral.”

“Reportedly, some reporters assembled in the Dhimanpura area where two bogies of a goods train had derailed in the night. An argument took place between the journalist and the police personnel. The victim was then thrashed and dragged to the local GRP police station where he was locked up. The victim has claimed that he was stripped and the SHO urinated in his mouth,” the NHRC stated.

The victim has reportedly accused the police personnel of attacking him out of vengeance as last month he had run a story about an encroachment by unauthorised vendors in connivance with GRP personnel, the NHRC notes.

An FIR based on the journalist's complaint has been registered and a departmental inquiry ordered under the supervision of the IG Railways. — TNS