Srinagar: A journalist from Ganderbal, central Kashmir, was arrested by Sumbal Police while he was on his professional duty and later severely beaten up inside the lockup.
Mushtaq Ganaie, who works for the an Engligh daily, Kashmir Observer, was arrested in the afternoon of 11 April, when he was traveling towards home, near Sumbal.
Talking to The Kashmir Walla, he said, “I was stopped by [a] police party and was asked to give reasons why I was out in the lockdown. I showed my identity papers and explained the reason, even as a press tag was pasted on my car windshield.”
While he was showing the documents, the Station House Officer, Police Station Sumbal, arrived there, said Ganaie, and ordered that he should be taken to the police station.
“When I argued with him, he abused me and refused to listen to my pleas that I was on a job like him,” said Ganaie.
He was later booked on charges of “creating hurdles in police officer’s duty” and detained for two days in the lock-up. An FIR bearing number: 60 of 2020 was registered against him.
Inside the lockup, Hanaie said that he was severely beaten by the SHO and other cops. “I was beaten up badly. My phone was confiscated and I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone,” he said.
The journalist was released two days later after his family members approached court and got bail orders. His car however continues to remain seized in the police station.
