A journalist of the Imphal Free Press covering the Miss Manipur pageant Saturday evening was beaten black and blue by a commando of the Imphal East police station detailed for security at the venue when the scribe was trying to exit the venue.
According to the Imphal Free Press, the ugly incident occurred around 8.15 pm near the main exit gate of the Bhagyachandra Open Air Theatre (BOAT), when the journalist, Inaotomba Thongbam, was coming out alone from the pageant venue to go back to his office and join his scheduled night duty.
Unable to contact and get assistance from his colleagues inside who were covering the event because of the thronging crowds, the injured scribe had to come all the way to the IFP office at Palace Gate on his own with a profusely bleeding, nasty cut on the bridge of of his nose where the commando had kicked him.
Immediately, a group of IFP's night shift staff accomanined their injured collegue back to BOAT to lodge a complaint with the police posted at the pageant venue. However, their efforts roved futile as the commando officer-in-command of the Imphal East police refused to entertain their complaint.
Narrating how the incident happened, Inaotomba said the commando personnel simply went wild and beat him up for no other reason than his request to get out of the amphetheatre to join his duty in office.
