A journalist working with The Caravan magazine was on Friday alleged assaulted by a senior police officer in North Delhi's Model Town Police Station while he was reporting on protests against the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in the area.
The journalist, Ahan Penkar, has filed a complaint with Delhi's commissioner of police SN Shrivastava.
"Today afternoon, Delhi Police assaulted @thecaravanindia’s staffer Ahan Penkar while he was reporting. ACP Ajay Kumar kicked & slapped Penkar inside the Model Town station premises. Penkar repeatedly told the police that he was a journalist and prominently displayed his press ID," The Caravan said in a tweet.
"The police forcibly took his phone from him and then deleted all the videos he had recorded while reporting. He was detained for nearly four hours. He has sustained injuries on his nose, his shoulder, his back and his ankle," it said.
Penkar was reporting on a protest concerning the alleged rape and murder of a teenaged girl in North Delhi. Students and activists had gathered outside the Model Town police station to demand the registration of an FIR in the case, it added.
In his "criminal complaint" to Delhi Police chief, Penkar alleged voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, and criminal intimidation."
While reporting on the protest, he said was "recording the incident on my phone in one hand, with my press card of The Caravan clearly held out for the police to see on my other hand. I kept repeating that I am a journalist but the police took me along with the protesters inside the station."
The police forcibly took my phone from me as soon as they grabbed me outside the station, he said.
"The police were abusing the whole time and threatening us. After a little time, the ACP Ajay Kumar came into the room holding a steel rod and threatened to beat us with the rod. Then he dropped the rod and started beating all of us with his hands and legs," the complaint further said.
"ACP Ajay Kumar kicked on the face first and I fell completely to the ground. When I was on the ground, the ACP kicked me on my back and my shoulders," Penkar said in his complaint to the police commissioner.
He alleged that ACP Ajay Kumar beat the others inside the station.
"Other police officials, whose names I do not know but can recognize if they are produced in front of me, also participated in the physical assault on the protesters, including beating a sardar boy and a Muslim man. The police also removed the Sardar boy's turban during the assault. At least five other police officials apart from the ACP participated in the physical assault, and there were at least five other police officials who were watching all this happen. Throughout the assault, the police officials kept abusing us," he said.
