Cops manhandle journalists; 3 suspended

Three policemen were placed under suspension and a police station in-charge was line-attached here for allegedly manhandling two journalists of a national Hindi daily after dubbing them as "activists" of banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

"We have suspended an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) and two head constables and line attached (removal from field duties) Awadhpuri Police Station in-charge in the matter," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Raman Singh told PTI on Wednesday.

ASI R S Dangi and head constables, Subhash Tyagi and Santosh Yadav, were suspended, while Awadhpuri police station in-charge Shikha Vaish was line-attached as she was "not aware of the incident", he said.

The incident took place in the wee hours of Tuesday when the two scribes -- Vijay Prabhat Shukla and Krishna Kumar Tiwari -- were returning home after thier duties.

They stopped near Vidhyasagar Institute from where they were supposed to go to their homes, separately on their motorcycles, a police official said on the basis of the complaint lodged by them.

When one of them was handing over a laptop and a mobile charger to the other, a PCR Van patrolling in the area reached at the spot and enquired about them.

Despite introducing themselves as journalists and apprising that were heading home after work, the policemen, who were alleged to be in an inebriated condition, misbehaved with them and used expletives to threaten them without listening to their justification, the SSP said.

The cops then forcibly took them to Awadhpuri police station and confined them there for the entire night, the duo alleged in their complaint.

Shukla alleged that Dangi was drunk and did not listen to them. He then started beating them despite being told that they are journalists.

Shukla claimed that when he told the cops that he belongs to Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, the policemen dubbed the duo as "SIMI activists" and took them to police station and allegedly beat them up.