Lucknow, June 12: In a horrific incident, a journalist in western Uttar Pradesh's Shamli was beaten up on camera by a group of GRP personnel while covering a train derailment near Dhimanpura.
The incident comes amid furore over the arrest of journalists on charges of "defaming" Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The journalist has been identified as Amit Sharma of News 24. Reportedly, the scribe was punched, slapped and abused by a group of policemen as he pleaded with them to stop. According to ANI, the journalist associated with a news channel, said, "They were in plain clothes. One hit my camera and it fell down. When I picked it up they hit and abused me. I was locked up, stripped and they urinated in my mouth." In a purported video of the incident which went viral on social media late last night, the accused GRP personnel, in plain clothes, can be seen repeatedly slapping and punching Sharma. Subsequently, the GRP personnel detained him. "The incident took place when the journalist had gone to cover the derailment of a few bogies of a goods trains in Shamli. There was a heated exchange of words among them and hurling of abuses," said Ram Lakhan Mishra, the Circle Officer, GRP, Saharanpur. A senior GRP official said the journalist was released around 7 am on Wednesday. SHO Rakesh Kumar and constable Sunil Kumar have been suspended and sent to the police lines for their actions.