Journalist beaten up, paraded by copsSuspicions about his wife got a freelance journalist into trouble with the Murbad police who allegedly beat him up and paraded him half naked in the busy thoroughfare on Tuesday.Namdeo Shelar, a stringer associated with two Marathi newspapers, was arrested after his wife Sunita complained of harassment. Produced before the magistrate's court on Wednesday, he alleged that he was paraded for nearly a kilometer from the police station to the bus stand. ``I was humiliated at the behest of PSI K Rajput of Murbad police station,'' he said, adding that he was targeted for his `dynamic journalism.' The reporter revealed that he was threatened several times after he had done a series of articles exposing the alleged corrupt practices of the Murbad police.Denying Shelar's allegation of parade, the police said he was arrested following a complaint from his wife about physical abuse. "Nowadays because of the human rightwallahs it is difficult for the police to eventouch hardened criminals," said Rajput and asked, "Do you think that we would risk doing what he alleges?" Meanwhile, Sunita was regretting the turn of events. Why did she go the police? "I felt that the police complaint would stop him from being suspicious of me," she admits breaking into tears. "I regret my foolishness now," she says and wonders, "Will he ever forgive me for the trouble I got him into?"The court meanwhile has ordered a medical check-up of Shelar and changed his police custody to judicial custody.Tension in Bhiwandi, SRP deployedThree battalions of State Reserve Police (SRP) were deployed in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi when tension spread after a youth was stabbed on Tuesday.Pramod G Kulkarni (32) was taking his son for a polio injection when he was stopped near a madarsa by a local youth Isnain Jalal Kharabe, who was armed with a sharp weapon. Kulkarni resisted when Kharabe tried to rob him and was stabbed twice.The attacker fled leaving Kulkarni in a pool of blood.Even before the police could arrive the news of the attack spread and angry youth from one community marched towards the police station shouting provocative slogans against the Hindu community. Soon another group of Hindu youth took to the streets threatening retaliation. Within an hour, the police had nabbed Isnain and brought him to the Bhoiwada police station. "The SRP was called in to control the mob when we felt that the situation was getting out of hand," said PSI J Tarde. The out-going Thane police commissioner O P Bali visited the trouble spots on Wednesday and "appreciated the Bhiwandi police for handling a difficult problem."
