Scribe records video of UP cops’ spat; booked, kept in Noida police station all night

NOIDA: A video journalist who had spotted an altercation between a group of people and policemen, and instinctively proceeded to film the incident, was slapped with charges like rioting and confined to a Noida police station overnight.
Dinesh Kumar (27), who works with the web department of Amar Ujala, was allowed to go only after his organisation confirmed his identity, but remains an “accused” in the FIR. Though sources close to Kumar said police had “apologised” and given an assurance that the “matter was resolved”, circle officer Piyush Singh said on Friday Kumar was still “under investigation” and SP (city) Vineet Jaiswal said his name was not being removed from the FIR because Kumar tried to “incite the crowd”, a charge the journalist denied.
Kumar was apprehended by cops from Noida’s Sector 58 police station on Wednesday evening after they saw him “videographing” the spat near Khoda-Labour Chowk. Kumar told TOI he was returning home in an auto after finishing his shift when he spotted the clash around 7.30pm. When he saw them coming to blows, he decided to get off and file a report or, in his case, record a video on his phone.
“I thought it was a clash between locals and police. But as soon as I started videographing the incident, a constable arrived and snatched my phone. They asked me where I worked and I told them the name of my organization. Then he asked for my identity card. Since I did not have it at that time, he asked me to sit in the van. The cops were talking among themselves about fake journalists and took me to the police station,” Kumar said.
The FIR against Kumar is a continuation of a trend: earlier this month, Pawan Jaiswal, a journalist with Hindi publication ‘Jansandesh’, was booked under charges of criminal conspiracy after he shot a video that showed children at a government school in Mirzapur having roti with salt for their midday meal. And a few days ago, two journalists in Bijnor — Ashish Tomar and Shakil Ahmed — were booked under sections like promoting enmity for a report on a Valmiki family leaving a village.
Kumar was eventually allowed to leave the police station around 2.30pm on Thursday. However, in the FIR that was registered, Kumar was also named along with Ravendra Kumar, Jitu, Golu and Rocky for “assaulting cops after threatening them and abusing them”. The four others were those who had the spat with the police team. In the FIR, police have said the four claimed to be from “the media” and had assaulted cops over the seizure of a Passion Pro bike for which they could not produce documents. The bike also did not have a number plate.
The FIR was filed under sections 147 (rioting), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the IPC.
A police officer told TOI Kumar had been “bailed out” since he was not found involved in any misbehaviour with the cops. Shavez Khan, SHO of Sector 58 police station, said Kumar had started arguing with the cops “thinking they (the four others) were fellow journalists”. Kumar, however, denied having any argument, saying he was straightway asked to sit in the PCR van.