NHRC issues notice to UP DGP over assault on TV journalist in Shamli

The NHRC said it has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports that a TV journalist in west Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district was assaulted by railway policemen on the night of June 11.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh director general police over brutal assault on a TV journalist allegedly by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel in Shamli.

The National Human Rights Commission has given Uttar Pradesh police chief O P Singh four weeks to reply to a notice about alleged rights abuse by policemen in Shamli.(HT PHOTO)

The commission has asked the DGP to submit a detailed report within four weeks, including action taken against guilty public servants and status of the FIR registered against them.

In a press statement, the NHRC said the commission had taken suo motu cognizance of media reports that a TV journalist in west Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district was assaulted by the SHO of the GRP on the night of June 11. The SHO, along with a constable, was booked and suspended after videos of the attack went viral the next day.

The incident reportedly occurred when group of reporters assembled in the Manipur area where two bogies of a goods train derailed at night. An argument took place between journalists and police personnel. The TV journalist was then thrashed and dragged to the local GRP police station where he was locked up. The victim claimed he was stripped and the SHO urinated in his mouth.

“The commission has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, amounted to gross violation of the victim’s rights. Going by the reported allegations, this kind of cruel and uncivilized act by a public servant is highly disgraceful and cannot be tolerated in a civilised society, he said. Stern action should be taken against the police personnel if found guilty so that such a barbaric act was not repeated by any public servant in future,” it said in the statement.

According to media reports carried on June 13, the SHO was seen attacking the journalist in the video clips. The victim reportedly alleged the police personnel attacked him out of vengeance as he had run a story about an encroachment by unauthorized vendors in connivance with GRP personnel last month.

An FIR based on the complaint of the journalist was registered and a departmental inquiry under supervision of the IG Railways was ordered.