Delhi HC orders protection to MP journalist who fled Bhind following ‘abuse, harassment and stripping at police station’

Noting that since the journalist is “apprehending threat to his life while being in Delhi”, Justice Ravinder Dudeja ordered the state to “provide protection to the petitioner and ensure that no harm befalls him”.

The court further directed Chouhan to communicate his address in a sealed envelope to the office of the additional standing counsel for the state, who should forward the same to the deputy commissioner of police/station house officer of the area where Chouhan resides. Justice Dudeja also directed the police to “not disclose this address to anybody”.

In further measures for the journalist’s security, the court directed that Chouhan be provided with the telephone number of the SHO and the beat constable of the area within whose territorial jurisdiction he resides.

Disposing of the petition, Justice Dudeja added, “As and when any message or call is received on the said number from the petitioner, it shall be responded to immediately.”

The court also ordered that the beat constable/division officer of the area should visit Chouhan’s house randomly. The beat constable should call him up before 6 pm daily for the next two months to ensure that he remains unharmed, it added.

It is further directed that the safety and security of the petitioner be assessed by the SHO every week, with due endorsement in the roznamcha (official record book) for at least a month.

According to the journalist, the SP “was displeased about the extensive reporting about the illegal sand mining activities in the Chambal river that are carried out by the sand mafia in connivance with the local police.”

While the petition also sought the high court to call for a status report into the incident from the Madhya Pradesh Police, Justice Dudeja indicated that it would be appropriate to pursue the remedy before the Madhya Pradesh High Court instead. Highlighting the “egregious” facts of the case, advocate Warisha Farasat, appearing for Chouhan, said they shall not press for the status report.

According to Chouhan’s petition, on May 1, he and another journalist Shashikant Jatav were “invited” to have a cup of tea with Yadav at his chambers, where “they were physically assaulted and battered by SP Asit Yadav and his subordinates.”

“Further, more than half a dozen other journalists were also present in the SP Asit Yadav’s chamber, who had all been stripped down to their undergarments before being physically assaulted and battered prior to their arrival,” Chouhan added.

On May 4, Chouhan and Jatav were on their way from Gwalior to Delhi “to meet (MP) Jyotiraditya Scindia to apprise him of their plight” when they were “picked up by one Saurabh Sharma, another journalist, on the pretext of going to Delhi by road”, Chouhan stated. They were then, instead, taken to a nearby dhaba where some police officers were waiting. They took the two journalists to the SP’s bungalow to work out a “compromise”, and directed that they should no longer pursue the matter of being assaulted by Bhind police officials on May 1, and drop the charges.

They were once again summoned by the SP to his office on May 5, “where they were forced to record a video statement in the presence of other police officials, stating that all matters between them and the police have been “resolved”,” the petition stated. The video was then circulated by the Bhind police through WhatsApp with the intention of “destroying the credibility” of the two journalists, the petition contended.

On May 19, the two fled to Delhi to file a complaint with the Press Council of India and the National Human Rights Commission.