Eight men including journalists and theater artists were stripped to their undergarments inside a police station in Madhya Pradesh.
The eight men including journalists, activists, and artists were seen standing against the wall with folded hands in front, stripped to their underwear after being severely beaten inside a police station in Madhya Pradesh, pictures which have now gone viral.
A local journalist and YouTuber, identified in the picture, alleged that he was abused, thrashed, and asked to undress by some police personnel when he went to cover a protest against a local BJP MLA.
The incident occurred in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district on Saturday when journalists protested against the arrest of theater artist Neeraj Kunder for allegedly making offensive remarks against BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla and his son Kedar Guru Dutt Shukla.
While they claimed that several social activists and theater artists protested against Mr. Kunder’s arrest, they were thrashed by police for raising slogans against the BJP government in the state.
Journalist Kanishk Tiwari claimed that he and his cameraman were arrested and charged under several sections, including trespassing and disturbing public peace. “Why are you running stories against the MLA?” He was allegedly questioned by the police.
Tiwari was kept in police custody for 18 hours along with others. He said, “The police detained us at around 8 pm on April 2 and released us at 6 pm on April 3.”
Tiwari claimed that the picture was taken by the police station in charge Abhishek Singh Parihar, who threatened, “If we run the story, we will parade you naked in the city. The journalists said that the police made the pictures go viral and “it violates our human rights.”
Sources have said that the Deputy Superintendent of Police will investigate the matter.
Freedom of Press Dying in India
In 2020, India’s press freedom rank dropped to 142 out of 180 countries in Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking of countries published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to safeguarding the right to freedom of information.
India’s media is losing its freedom and crackdowns on the press could get even worse. Journalists in India have been beaten, arrested, and forced to resign for trying to report news about the government or other controversial issues.
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