Journalist Amit Sharma covering train derailment beaten, abused by railway police - Watch

A TV journalist named Amit Sharma was thrashed by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli on Tuesday evening while he was covering derailment of a goods train near Dhimanpur in Shamli.

Amit Sharma, who is a reporter of a private news channel said that GRP Shamli’s SHO Rakesh Upadhyay and constable Sanjay Panwar asked him to leave from the derailment site and started beating him when he tried to record scenes from the site of derailment. Sharma said that after thrashing him, the police put him in a lock up. Sharma added that he was also stripped and some policemen urinated in his mouth.

#WATCH Shamli: GRP personnel thrash a journalist who was covering the goods train derailment near Dhimanpura tonight. He says, "They were in plain clothes. One hit my camera&it fell down. When I picked it up they hit&abused me. I was locked up, stripped&they urinated in my mouth" pic.twitter.com/nS4hiyFF1G — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 11 June 2019

Talking to ANI, Sharma said that the policemen were in plain clothes and one of them hit on his camera. The journalist added that when he tried to pick up his camera the policemen started beating and abusing him.

When some local journalists heard about the incident they arrived at the GRP police station and demanded Sharma's release. When asked about the reason behind police's behaviour, Sharma said it is likely that the policemen were unhappy with him as he had exposed some shortcomings of Shamli GRP recently.

It is to be noted that Uttar Police oversees the Government Railway Police. The UP police has taken note of the incident and has suspended SHO Rakesh Upadhyay and constable Sanjay Panwar. "We have come across a video where a journalist has been beaten up & put up in a lock up. DGP UP OP Singh has ordered for immediate suspension of SHO GRP Shamli Rakesh Kumar & Const. Sanjay Pawar," the Uttar Pradesh police tweeted.

We have come across a video where a journalist has been beaten up & put up in a lock up. DGP UP OP Singh has ordered for immediate suspension of SHO GRP Shamli Rakesh Kumar & Const. Sanjay Pawar.
Strict punishment shall be accorded to policemen misbehaving with citizens. — UP POLICE (@Uppolice) 12 June 2019

Meanwhile, Indian Railways has condemned the act of GRP personnel and has said that media is a fourth pillar of democracy and they play an important role in society.