Journalist ‘assaulted, urinated on’ in custody for ‘report on MP police station’

The family of a journalist has alleged that he was assaulted and urinated on by the SHO of a police station after being arrested and framed in a robbery case in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur. 

Mintu Dubey is a freelance journalist who has worked for organisations such as New Sadhna News and Ind24. He was arrested hours after an FIR was filed on August 8, based on a complaint about an alleged robbery which took place past midnight on the same date. 

But the complainant in the robbery case does not recognise his attackers. The police have not conducted any identification parade. And the FIR does not name the journalist. 

Dubey’s sister Sunita Tiwari, who visited him after his arrest on August 10, said the journalist told her that he had only been targeted for an old report accusing the Civil Lines police station staff of extortion. She said Dubey had been “threatened” by the SHO earlier as well.

Tiwari submitted a complaint of misconduct to Chhatarpur SP Amit Sanghi on August 19.

While the Chhatarpur SP said the complaint will be looked into, Civil Lines police SHO Kamlesh Sahu has termed all the allegations “baseless” and claimed that Dubey is a “drunk” and “not even an authorised journalist”.

Newslaundry has seen the FIR, the complaint, and Dubey’s report. Published in local daily Shubh News in April, the report alleged that Civil Lines police had blackmailed a trader and a complaint had been submitted to senior police officers.

The trader, Jibrael Rayeen, told Newslaundry that two police personnel were suspended after his complaint to officers and that the SHO “behaved as if he was not aware of anything”. 

Meanwhile, according to Tiwari’s complaint, Dubey was having dinner at a dhaba on Jhansi Khajuraho highway when he was arrested by the police.

“They took him to Civil Lines where station house officer Kamlesh Sahu booked him in a looting incident. Sahu then beat him up inside a room,” she alleged. “He was slapped on his face with shoes and they then peed on his head. My brother was very scared when he told me about this harassment. He’s scared of the police and concerned that it would bring him public humiliation.”

The robbery case

The complaint was filed by one Ramesh Chand Gupta, who runs a shop. As per the complaint, two men on motorcycles had allegedly robbed Gupta of Rs 3,100 while he was cycling home after midnight, assaulted him and then snatched his bag. Two others in a truck witnessed what had happened and tried to apprehend the attackers but were unable to.

Newslaundry contacted Gupta to ask him what happened. He asked us to speak to his wife since he has a hearing problem. His wife Rekha said her husband did not recognise his attackers.

“We don’t know who those people were. The police arrested two persons but they have not called us yet to identify them,” she said. “My husband is partially impaired so he did not hear half the things the police told him while filing the FIR.”

The second person arrested is named Deependra Yadav.

Newslaundry asked Sahu about Dubey’s allegations. He said, “These are baseless things. We arrested him because he looted the person. He is a drunk. He is not even an authorised journalist.” He said an identification parade in the looting case will be “done soon”.

Chhatarpur superintendent of police Amit Sanghi said he has “issued an inquiry” into Dubey’s case. “Once the inquiry gets completed, we will take action accordingly. Until then, we cannot comment on anything more,” he said.

Not an isolated incident?

But there are other allegations against Sahu too. 

In another case, on August 10, a woman called Ranjana Raikwar filed a complaint with the police superintendent’s office, alleging Sahu had harassed her in Civil Lines police station on August 8. Newslaundry has a copy of Raikwar’s complaint.

Raikwar told Newslaundry she had been out with three friends – two men and a woman – celebrating a birthday near the highway. She said two police personnel took them to the Civil Lines police station after forcing them into a private vehicle around 10.30 pm. She said she and her friends were kept at the police station “through the night”. 

“There were no women police officials,” she said. “They passed crass comments that we two women are prostitutes. In the morning, SHO Sahu assaulted my friend. They filed a case but we got bail that evening. I went to the SP’s office to submit a complaint but it wasn’t accepted. So I sent it by post.”

She claimed the “case” in question was of “two women fighting on the road”. “I am not involved in illegal activities. I am a divorcee, live with my three children, and I run a small beauty parlour. But these kinds of professions are looked down upon in small towns. In fact, the police violated all the rules and forcefully kept two women in the police station through the night. But no one questions them.”

Newslaundry asked Sahu and Chhatarpur SP Sanghi about Raikwar’s allegations. Sahu said, “I will talk about it later.”