Victimised journalist IND 24 who was detained for the night at Kotdwar police post for not fault of his writes to CM Dhami demanding suspension of the erring police officers
Few days ago an outspoken Journalist working for a national news channel IND 24 Sudhanshu Thapliyal who was arbitrarily detained for the entire night in Kotdwar police station lockup, his lap top and mobile taken and he taken at the mid of the night to police station by the local Kotdwar police for writing a Facebook post against the police’s apathy , inefficiency and negligence for not nabbing a culprit who had hit a girl on her scooty resulting in her brutal death even after a week, has written a letter to the chief chief of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami demanding immediate stringent legal action against the erring police officials n suspending them forthwith for locking him inside the police station the entire night for no fault of his target doing his duty to expose the apathetic policemen for not responding on the complaint of the bereaved parents to nab the culprit whose negligent and rash driving had resulted in the death of an innocent girl on her scooty in Kotdwar.
In a letter/ memorandum sent to the chief minister the victim journalist Sudhanshu Thapliyal has categorically concluded that immediate suspension of the Station house officer and Chowki Incharge Ramesh Tanwar and other policemen is the immediate demand of his and ordering mere probe would be nothing but a coverup as his detention in the lockup and registering fake case on concocted and fabricated charges against him is nothing but completely an illegal act.
He also demanded immediate withdrawal of all the false cases against him on biased grounds and probe if necessary at the police headquarter level.
According to the complaint letter/ memorandum sent to the CM, journalist Sudhanshu Thapliyal wrote that he is working as a reporter for the national news channel IND 24 for the last four years at Kotdwar.
A twenty years old girl on her scooty was brutally crushed to death in Kotdwar few days ago.
Being the journalist when the bereaved parents approached him to narrate about her daughter’s brutal death after being crushed by a person through his car and the police literally doing nothing to nab the culprit after several days, being a journalist he wrote a post on the Facebook to enable the family get the justice. He wrote I considered it my moral duty as a journalist to accuse the police for their loss of sensitivity over this important case including being completely apathetic.
On 29 th February a police team from Kotdwar police station comprising of three sub inspectors of police namely Umesh Kumar, Raj Vikram and Pankaj Tiwari, Deepak Kumar Singh , CIU chief Kamlesh Kumar, head constable Sunil and Karan raided his house in the night at 10.30 and forcibly lifted me in their van to the Kotdwar police chowki , abusing and heckling and also compelling to sigh certain documents forcibly said the victimised journalist. They aslo threatened me not to report anywhere and to anyone. They snatched my phone and laptop and also threatened to register false cases under serious charges against me. The matter has gone viral in social media posts and several organisation too has condemned this incident amounting to stifling of the voice of free speech and expression detaining an innocent journalist for entire night in the lock up. I was also threatened not to write against them in future failing which they will trap him in several cases wrote Journalist Sudhanshu Thapliyal in the letter sent to the CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. Earlier the former president of Press Club of India Umakant Lakhera has reacted in this issue by posting on X : There is a state called Uttarakhand. Journalists are not safe there, there is no freedom to write and raise questions, then who is safe there? Kotdwar police illegally arrested a journalist for exposing the failures of those in power, snatched his mobile. If the police itself becomes the judge, then what are the courts for?
Meanwhile, yesterday a delegation of Uttarakhand Patrakar Union met the Director General of Police of Uttarakhand at Dehradun and submitted him a three page memorandum discussing how an innocent journalist of Kotdwar was arrested arbitrarily and fabricated cases lodged against him under sections 353(2), 356(2) and 356 (2) for no fault of his except writing social media post to highlight the apathy and negligence of the local police proving a big failure in not arresting a culprit whose car crushed a girl to death travelling in a scooty despite 12 days already elapsing.
They demanded forming of an SIT and probe conducted forthwith to stringently punish the erring policemen and withdrawal of all the false and fabricated cases against Sudhanshu Thapliyal.
Terming this police action as a murder of democracy the Journalists Union sought assurance not to repeat such incidents in future especially with journalists as this unambiguously amounts to stifling the voice and free writing in a constitutional democracy thus amounting to the murder of democracy.
