MP govt orders FIR against cops who manhandled journalists

Taking serious note of the alleged manhandling of journalists by police here, the Madhya Pradesh government has ordered to register an FIR against the accused policemen, a senior official said today.
The order to register the FIR against the accused policemen was given after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Home Minister Bhupendra Singh visited the Government JP Hospital to enquire about the condition of injured scribes last evening, the official said.
The accused policemen have already been placed under suspension.
State Home Minister ordered to register FIR against the accused policemen, including Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Raghuveer Singh Dangi and others, after meeting the injured journalists, Krishnamohan Tiwari and Vijay Prabhat Shukla, the official said.

Chouhan said he was pained over the incident and added that he will ensure policemen do not behave in such manner with anyone in future.
Meanwhile, taking cognisance of the matter, Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission's acting Chairman V M Kanwar directed police to submit a report within a week on the issue.

Senior Congress leader and the party's chief whip in Lok Sabha, Jyotiraditya Scindia also condemned the incident.
"Instead of providing security to the people, police is harassing innocent journalists in such a manner," Scindia said.
Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi and Manak Agrawal also visited the hospital to enquire about the condition of the injured journalists.

Three policemen were earlier 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 SIMI.
ASI Dangi and head constables Subhash Tyagi and Santosh Yadav were suspended, while Awadhpuri police station in-charge Shikha Vaish was line attached (removal from field duties).
The incident took place in the wee hours of Tuesday when the two scribes were returning home after their duties.