Palghar scribes demand action against two errant cops
The Palghar District Reporters' Association held a protest on Tuesday at the Azad maidan demanding action against two errant police inspectors of Palghar police station and withdrawal of an alleged false case against journalists Ram Parmar and Hussain Khan. The journalists were covering a dacoity case on June 21 when the police assaulted them and falsely booked them under the charges of deterring a public servant from performing his duty.
Khan, who works as a stringer with a Hindi news channel followed the usual drill and began recording a video the police and the accused on June 21. Sub-inspector Taufique Sayyad had allegedly stopped Khan from filming inside the police station, snatched his mobile phone, thrashed him and arrested him. Khan’s friend Ram Parmar, a senior reporter with a broadsheet newspaper reached the police station a few minutes later.
Sayyad, the complainant in the case had stated that he was assaulted by Khan and later joined by Parmar, as per the First Information Report (FIR). He had alleged that the reporters had obstructed the police from carrying out their investigations and when they asked them to leave, they had allegedly assaulted the police.
They were booked for assaulting a public servant and deterring him from the discharge of his duty (Section 353) of the Indian Penal Code. Parmar and Khan were released from the Thane Central jail on June 25.
Ramakant Patil, the President of the Palghar District Reporters' Association said, "On November 21, we have submitted a letter to the Home Department and to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to withdraw the case against both the journalists, take action against Kiran Kabadi and Taufique Sayyad and amend section 353 to prevent misuse by the police against journalists. We had made demands for it during the monsoon assembly at Nagpur. We were assured that action would be taken and an inquiry would be carried out against the police officers. However, no action was taken."