SAS Nagar, November 30: IN yet another instance of police high-handedness, a photo journalist discharging his professional duty was assaulted, dragged to a police station and booked for allegedly misbehaving with and manhandling a police personnel.
A shocked Samuel, who is a staff photographer with the Hindustan Times, an English daily published from Mohali, said he was beaten up and humiliated by the police personnel in full public view. Ironically, a case was slapped on him for alleged assault. He was bailed out later.
Samuel said he was going to a bank with his wife when they saw a truck hitting some vehicles near the bus stand in Kharar. It appeared that the brakes of the truck had failed, so Samuel shouted to passersby to get aside.
Later when the truck came to a halt, he started taking pictures of the truck and the driver. A traffic policeman prevented him, and tried to snatch his camera. As the photo journalist argued with him, the traffic policeman called an ASI, who caught hold of the journalist and started beating him mercilessly. He was also dragged to the police station in full public view. Later, he was sent for a medical examination where it was found that he had swelling on his left arm and bruises on his back.
Ironically, Mohali SSP Naunihal Singh, when contacted, said the journalist had manhandled the traffic policeman “and he was beaten by residents who were present at the scene’’.
However, he said he would initiate action if the information supplied to him was proved incorrect.
