Journalist, 7 others stripped to underwear at MP police station; pics go viral, cops face action

New Delhi: In a shocking case of police high-handedness, a group of people including a journalist were stripped to their undergarments at a Madhya Pradesh police station. The incident came to light after their semi-nude photographs went viral on the social media.

The viral photos are from a police station in Sidhu district and the incident reportedly happened on April 2.

And, the matter pertains to arrest of a theatre artiste Neeraj Kunder on alleged charges of defaming a BJP MLA and his family.

Talking about the incident, the local journalist said that when they went to enquire and protest against arrest of theatre artiste Neeraj Kunder, they are apprehended and put behind bars.

Police’s bizarre explanation after backlash

Facing strong backlash for stripping the scribe & 7 other activists, the police came out with a very bizarre explanation. The SHO of Kotwali station reasoned that they were put in lock up and their clothes taken before that, to rule out ‘possibility of suicide’.

“We keep them in jail in this way so that they cannot commit suicide using their clothes,” SHO Manoj Soni told newsmen.

The police also claimed that artiste Kunder was posting defamatory content against the BJP MLA and his son, under the garb of a fake identity.

The Police also said that the arrests were made on basis of FIR lodged by the legislator. During investigation, we scanned the Facebook & IP addresses and the got hold of the artiste over his malicious actions.

Action after outrage

As the half-naked photographs of journalist & other activists created uproar on social media, two police personnel namely Manoj Soni & sub-inspector Abhishek Singh were shunted out. They were reportedly transferred from field duty to some other posting, at Chief Minister Office’s order.