ROHTAK: A freelance journalist, who was detained at Singhu border on late Saturday evening by the Delhi Police, was released hours later after a written undertaking that he would not speak to the media on this issue.
Speaking to TOI on Sunday morning, Dharmender Singh, who belongs to Ahiri village in Haryana’s Jhajjar district and works for a news portal, said cops picked him up when he tried to get their sound bite on problems faced by the local residents following heavy barricading at the border after the violence on Friday.
However, another freelancer, who was picked by the cops from the same spot around the same time, was produced before the magistrate and sent to judicial custody. Mandeep Punia from Kudhan village in Jhajjar district works for a monthly magazine.
According to an FIR was registered at Alipur police station, Mandeep was arrested after some people, including him, misbehaved with the police personnel when told to stop trying to remove the barricades placed at the border. He has been booked under sections 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his public functions) and 353 (assaulting a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code. However, an eyewitness claimed that Mandeep was on an assignment and was recording the issues faced by local residents due to barricades placed by the Delhi Police. A video of the incident, showing cops manhandling Mandeep has gone viral on social media.
Expressing shock at Mandeep’s arrest, his wife Lila Shree said, “He has been arrested by the security forces for doing his duty.” On Friday at the Singhu border, there were clashes between farmers and a large group of men claiming who hurled stones at each other.