Mumbai: Reporter hauled and booked by police for doing her job

Mumbai: A freelance lady reporter, Priyanka Borpujari, was on Tuesday hauled to the BKC police station and booked for assault for using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty.

Borpujari had gone to cover a demolition drive against illegal shanties in Kalina. “I had gone to cover the demolition drive and was making a video of the razing. I saw policewomen assaulting women and children of slum dwellers. One lady officer came and tried to snatch my phone. I told the police that being a journalist my primary duty is to report. They asked for my identity card, which I don’t have since I am a freelancer and write for different publications,” a visibly intimidated Borpujari told the Free Press Journal.

The police women pulled her hair and hustled her inside a car, it is claimed. An injury mark is visible on her chest, a tell-tale sign of the manhandling (See picture). Despite the bruise, she was not sent for any medical examination, it is pointed out.

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When she was unable to produce her ‘media card,’ the women in uniform bundled her into a police van and ferried her to Bandra Kurla Complex police station. The senior inspector of BKC police station told the Free Press Journal that she was instigating the mob which had gathered to stall the demolition drive.

“Borpujari stood in front of the JCB machine and started talking to the protesting mob. We told her to go into a corner and talk to the protestors. But she was not willing to budge. Instead she instigated the crowd and told them that ‘I am with you’. When one lady constable tried to check Borpujari’s mobile, she resisted.

Meanwhile, one of the women from the slum came and bit a constable’s hand. She has a deep wound of a teeth bite. Our constable started bleeding. She was immediately sent to JJ hospital for medical check-up,” said Gadekar. Besides Borpujari, three other women from the slum have been booked under relevant sections of the IPC.

However, the freelancer denied having instigated the mob and said, “I was just doing my work. Being a journalist, it is my job to report. They snatched my hand phone and did not allow me to talk to anyone. They kept me at the police station for nearly six hours and I was finally allowed to go after one of my friend sent a counsel to assist me.”

Borpujari’s lawyer Harshawardhan Salgaokar said, “She was injured during the melee when the police was trying to snatch her cell phone and she resisted. She was brought to the police station and kept in preventive custody for a few hours. Later, she was released.”Under section 41 of the CrPC, Borpujari and other accused were allowed to go, confirmed Gadekar.