At a time when the Yogi Adityanath regime is under the microscope over the arrest of multiple journalists who supposedly “defamed” the Chief Minister, a video has emerged from West Uttar Pradesh in which the state’s Railway Police can be seen punching, slapping, and abusing a journalist named Amit Sharma.

According to a report on NDTV, Sharma, a stringer for the TV channel News24, said  a group of Railway Police personnel locked him up and abused him on Tuesday night when he was covering the derailment of a train in Shamli district. “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,” he said.

Apart from thrashing him, the Government Railway Police also allegedly snatched his camera and phone while he was recording the spot of derailment. 

IANS reports several local journalists rushed to the police station upon learning about the incident and put the video footage of cops beating up Amit Sharma on social media. The journalists also reportedly contacted senior officials at the police headquarters.

Sharma was released this morning after protests by the other journalists at the local police station.

In one of the videos, Sharma is seen behind bars in the police station and narrating what happened to him to his colleagues. “Ten to 15 days ago, I had done a story on them. The mobile phone that they snatched from me had the footage of the story,” he said after being released.

Uttar Pradesh Police, which oversees the Government Railway Police, took note of the video and said the railway police Station House Officer and a constable have been suspended. “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,” the Uttar Pradesh police tweeted.