Two impartial girls journalists in New Delhi alleged that they had been detained and assaulted by Delhi Police personnel inside a police station after they went to cowl an occasion and sought to query Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. The journalists alleged that the police requested about their faith and assaulted them after studying that they had been Muslims.
The police, nonetheless, denied the allegations, terming them “factually incorrect” and “deceptive”, whereas movies of the journalists went viral on social media, drawing sharp criticism from opposition events, together with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP).
Journalists Shaheen Khan and Nafisa Khan alleged that police personnel first detained them close to the venue of inauguration of a brand new wing at Max Hospital in Saket earlier than taking them to the Saket police station, the place they had been allegedly assaulted.
A number of movies of the journalists had been broadly circulated on social media, exhibiting them displaying harm marks on totally different components of their our bodies. In a single video, one of many journalists claimed they had been repeatedly overwhelmed with batons after they had gone to cowl the inauguration by Union Residence Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
“We wished to query the Delhi Chief Minister. However we had been detained and delivered to the Saket Police Station. The police groups took us to a room, the place they assaulted us brutally,” she alleged.
She additional alleged that police personnel requested them which neighborhood they belonged to after which assaulted them once more. The journalist claimed she suffered accidents to her leg and arm, whereas her colleague sustained an harm to her leg.
“I’m telling them, my title is Khan. Khan is a part of my title. I’m Mohammad, I’m a Muslim, and that’s the reason as we speak an officer of the Delhi Police beat us with sticks. They hit us with batons and slapped us repeatedly. The hatred that was directed at us as we speak due to our Muslim id. Delhi Police must account for it. You’ll have to reply,” Shaheen was heard saying in a video.
One other video confirmed Shaheen mendacity immobile on the ground, whereas a 3rd confirmed Nafisa, who appeared to have an injured leg and was unable to stroll, being carried away.
POLICE CALL ALLEGATIONS BASELESS
The Delhi Police, nonetheless, rejected the allegations of assault.
In response to the police, the 2 girls had parked their scooter close to the venue, obstructing a chosen VVIP route. Police stated they repeatedly requested the journalists to take away the car and clear the route, however they refused to conform.
“In view of the safety and security protocol of the VVIP route, each girls had been taken to the native police station for additional enquiry,” the police stated.
In a press release, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Anant Mittal stated the allegations that the journalists had been assaulted for asking inquiries to the Chief Minister had been “completely false, deceptive and baseless”.
“Residents and social media customers are suggested to chorus from circulating unverified and deceptive data,” he added.
OPPOSITION SLAMS BJP
The allegations drew a pointy political response, with the opposition Congress and AAP concentrating on the BJP-led Delhi authorities.
The Congress, sharing a video of Shaheen, stated that asking questions had turn out to be a criminal offense underneath the BJP authorities.
“Such therapy of a journalist is totally unacceptable, and strict motion should be taken towards the responsible policemen. Nevertheless, the probabilities of which might be slim, as a result of—within the BJP authorities, asking questions has turn out to be a criminal offense,” the social gathering stated.
The AAP additionally condemned the alleged incident, saying, “A feminine journalist was brutally overwhelmed by the police underneath Residence Minister Amit Shah just because she was asking questions of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. In such a scenario, the query is actually legitimate: Will the voices of daughters all the time be suppressed on this method within the Modi authorities?”
AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj, in a put up on X, alleged that the 2 girls journalists had been “very brutally overwhelmed” by Delhi Police for asking inquiries to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. “Disgrace on lady CM Rekha Gupta,” Bharadwaj stated.
PRESS BODIES DEMAND ACTION
The Press Membership of India, the Indian Ladies’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists, Press Affiliation and Kerala Union of Working Journalists issued a joint assertion condemning the alleged assault and known as upon Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar to order a “free and truthful investigation”.
The press our bodies alleged that the journalists had been initially manhandled by police personnel on the spot earlier than being taken to the police station.
“Upon reaching the police station, the SHO allegedly instructed police officers to take the 2 journalists to a room, the place girls officers additionally joined, and began beating Shaheen and Nafisa,” the organisations alleged.
Additionally they claimed that the journalists’ spiritual identities had been decided on the police station and that religion-specific abuses had been allegedly directed at them.
The organisations known as for punitive motion towards the police officers concerned, together with the station home officer, if the allegations are established.
The police have denied the allegations of assault, whereas movies exhibiting the journalists displaying what seem like accidents have continued to flow into broadly on social media.
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