A viral video has exposed the brutal face of the Government Railway Police (GRP) whose men mercilessly thrashed a news channel reporter and allegedly urinated at him for doing a story on the derailment of a good train and illegal vendors at Shamli railway station, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday evening. Two railway policemen have been suspended for allegedly thrashing the journalist.
Amit Sharma, who worked for a well-known Hindi channel, had gone to cover an incident of derailment of a freight train near Dheemanpur railway crossing and later came to Shamli station for further updates when he was grabbed by the GRP personnel.
They punched and kicked him in front of the public and detained him.
“It all began sometime back when I blew the cover of an illegal trade racket run by GRP personnel in the trains, I reported the story and since then I have been on the target of the GRP men. Last night, without any fault of mine, I was beaten and locked up. I was tortured while I was held captive last night. I demand strict action on the people involved in beating me up,” he said.
After the video of SHO (GRP) Rakesh Kumar and constable Sunil Kumar thrashing the journalist went viral, a huge number of journalists thronged the GRP station protesting the incident.
After much hullaballoo, police ordered a probe on Wednesday morning. Preliminary investigation revealed that the GRP personnel were inebriated.
“They damaged my camera, hit and abused me. I was locked up, stripped and they urinated at me,” Sharma alleged.
“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.
The Uttar Pradesh Police tweeted, “We have come across a video where a journalist has been beaten up & put up in a lock up. DGP UP OP Singh has ordered for immediate suspension of SHO GRP Shamli Rakesh Kumar & Const. Sanjay Pawar. Strict punishment shall be accorded to policemen misbehaving with the citizens.”