Ankit Singh, a reporter for a news channel, has alleged that he was roughed up by the police when he was getting some visuals for his story on the Kanpur shelter home where 57 girls have been found to be COVID-19 positive.
Singh told THE WEEK that he had visited the shelter home in Swaroop Nagar on Sunday but could not get much information as the area had been sealed off. Later that day, he proceeded to the local police station to shoot some visuals for the television channel, Hindi Khabar, where he is employed.
“After abusing me for covering the issue, I was beaten by the police. When my colleague, Shubham Shukla, tried to shoot the episode on his phone, it was snatched away. The police took care in beating me such that there were no visible marks on my body or blood, though I have a severe body ache,” Singh told THE WEEK.
In addition to Singh's complaint to Kanpur's senior superintendent of police, the channel's chief editor, Atul Agarwal, has also written to the Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Awasthi, who holds charge of the state’s information department, to demand justice. The letter names five policemen who had misbehaved with Ankit Singh. Two unnamed personnel are also charged in the letter, which reads, “Is it a crime to do honest reporting?”
As per the letter, Ankit Singh had reached the police station at 11.30pm. After being abused and assaulted, he was put in the lock-up and released only after he signed a 'compromise' at 2am. His phone was taken away.
“I told the police that even criminals get to make one phone call, but they did not give me my phone,” he said.
The letter further reads, “In my last meeting with him, (CM) Yogi Adityanath had said that we must tell him the shortcomings of his government. If we obey the CM’s instructions, will we be beaten up?”
Ankit Singh says that he has demanded that the guilty police personnel be removed from their jobs. “If they decide to take only disciplinary action, then I will approach higher police authorities,” he said.
Investigation into the matter has been given to Anil Kumar, SP (West) of Kanpur.
Kumar denies that Ankit Singh was assaulted in any manner.
“He had gone to the police station to advocate for some personal matter. As physical distance has to be maintained, he was asked not to enter the premises unnecessarily but he started arguing with the personnel there,” Kumar told THE WEEK.
He added that Singh had no identification papers to prove his journalistic credentials. “If he was reporting on the shelter home, why did he need to come inside the police station? It belies logic that it was necessary to enter even if he wanted to get some visuals of the police station under which the shelter home falls,” Kumar said.
The matter, Kumar says, is under investigation and a report is likely to be available by the evening.
