New Delhi: Two officers in Madhya Pradesh have been sent to the police lines after an image of a few partially disrobed men, standing together in what appears to be a police station, surfaced on social media and sparked outrage.
The image is from Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, and was taken on 2 April when the men were detained by the local police for allegedly protesting and sloganeering against state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
Speaking to ThePrint, Mukesh Shrivastava, superintendent of police (SP), Sidhi, said the station house officer (SHO) and the sub-inspector of the station have now been sent to the police lines.
While the SP had denied that any journalists were arrested when ThePrint reached out to him, later in the evening, he told local media that he had been made aware that one of those arrested is a journalist.
Earlier, when asked about the men being stripped, Shrivastava had said, “They were made to remove clothes for security checks.”
Asked why a photo of this was clicked and released on social media, the SP had said, “We are probing the incident. Those who have published the photo on social media will be punished”.
Kanishk Tiwari, one of the eight men in the photo, has come forward and claimed that he is a local journalist. He has said that he works as a stringer with Hindi news channel News Nation and also runs a YouTube channel, MP Sandesh News 24, in the Bagheli language.
In a video message, Tiwari claimed that on 2 April, when he had gone to cover a protest with his cameraperson, he was manhandled by the local police and taken to the Kotwali police station.
“I was beaten up, stripped and threatened that if I report against MLAs and police, I will be made to roam around the city in underwear,” Tiwari said.
“Ten of us were arrested under IPC sections. We were abused, beaten up and humiliated. The Kotwali police knew I was a journalist, but yet they kept questioning why I run news against MLAs. My cameraperson and others were arrested on 2 April at 8pm and released around 6 pm on 3 April,” he added.
“The photo was clicked by police officers present there. We were abused the entire night. My family and I are scared. Human rights have been violated. By clicking this photo and releasing it, the police have defamed us.” Tiwari said, adding that the police are threatening to file more cases against him.
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What happened on 2 April
SP Shrivastava said the protests on 2 April were against the arrest of a renowned theatre artist, Neeraj Kunder, earlier that day. Kunder was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) as well as sections of the IT Act.
“We had received a complaint from BJP MLA Kedar Nath Shukla and his son against a Facebook account that was defaming them, and hurling abuse. The account was under the ID ‘Anurag Mishra’,” said Shrivastava. Shukla is the MLA for Sidhi.
“During six months of investigation, we found that the handle belonged to theatre artist Neeraj Kunder. He was arrested on 2 April and later released on bail. A group of protesters created chaos and started sloganeering against the CM, disrupting the law-and-order situation here, and hence were arrested,” the SP said.
In a press statement, Thursday, Sidhi police said that following Kunder’s arrest, 30-40 people had gathered in front of the police station, led by Tiwari, and started raising slogans against the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, the BJP, and the Sidhi MLA.
Speaking to ThePrint, Tiwari said, “Kunder is my neighbour and his family consulted me on what to do next. I suggested that they should question the police. I wasn’t part of the protest but I did also question the police about the case against him. They arrested me and my cameraperson along with the other protesters and hit us.”
Tiwari added that he has been working for News Nation as a stringer for four years, and claimed that he is being targeted because of his journalism.
The SP said that the protesters were first taken into preventive detention and an FIR was filed under IPC Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot — if rioting be committed — if not committed), 152 (assaulting or obstructing public servant when suppressing riot), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of the peace) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) among other sections.
“The protest took place till late night. The next day, they were all granted bail,” the SP said.
Tiwari said that some theatre artistes and one person affiliated with the Congress were arrested with him that night. Kunder, who was arrested around 3 pm, was also granted bail the next day.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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