
Journalist beaten up, paraded by cops
Suspicions 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 magistrate8217;s court on Wednesday, he alleged that he was paraded for nearly a kilometer from the police station to the bus stand. 8220;I was humiliated at the behest of PSI K Rajput of Murbad police station,8221; he said, adding that he was targeted for his dynamic journalism.8217; 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.
The court meanwhile has ordered a medical check-up of Shelar and changed his police custody to judicial custody.
Tension in Bhiwandi, SRP deployed
Three 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. quot;The SRP was called in to control the mob when we felt that the situation was getting out of hand,quot; said PSI J Tarde. The out-going Thane police commissioner O P Bali visited the trouble spots on Wednesday and quot;appreciated the Bhiwandi police for handling a difficult problem.quot;