Tag: singhu protest rally

Watch | Journalist Mandeep Punia Speaks to ‘The Wire’ After His Release

The journalist who was detained by the Delhi Police at Singhu border, while he was working, speaks on independent work and how it is viewed in India.

On January 30, journalist Mandeep Punia was detained by the Delhi Police at Singhu border, while he was working.

A case was registered against Punia under various sections including 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Punia speaks on the circumstances that led to his arrest.

‘Want to Be a Reporter? We’ll Make You a Reporter’: Mandeep Punia Recounts Day of Arrest

The independent journalist spoke to The Wire about the unique progression of events on the day of his arrest.

New Delhi: Journalist Mandeep Punia, who had been detained on January 30, at the Singhu border where he was working, was given bail on February 2.

While Delhi Police has claimed that Punia had pushed through barricades and manhandled police personnel, editors of Caravan magazine, where Punia is a contributor, had said that he was working on a report on what went into the sudden appearance of men who claimed to be locals at Singhu.

Speaking to The Wire, Punia noted that he was at Singhu at about 6 pm on January 30, when the Kisan Sangharsh Mazdoor Committee was conducting a press conference. Punia was with a colleague, Dharmender Singh, and was attending the conference when he spotted police officials abusing migrant workers attempting to cross the barricades at Singhu.

“Dharmender and I began filming this, but one of the police officers grabbed Dharmender and started dragging him away. I called out to the officer, saying that he cannot behave like this with a journalist,” Punia said.

Within moments more officers had arrived. “First, they rained blows on us. Then, they dragged us to a tent and beat us up even more. While they beat us, we heard them saying, ‘Do you want to be reporters? We will make you reporters’,” Punia said.

There was more verbal and physical abuse.

Mandeep Punia had scribbled on his leg while he was detained. Also visible in the photo is a scab from the beatings, he said. Photo: Mukul Singh Chauhan/The Wire

Later, Jatinder Meena, additional deputy commissioner of police Outer North Delhi, arrived in the tent. The officers filed out and Meena told the duo that a mistake had been made. Meena also offered medical aid for them and said they would be released, Punia recounted.

“We told him we will get our own medical aid. Getting a medical assessment done by them would mean that they would later put us in jail,” Punia said.

Punia also sought to remind Meena that he had met him in the morning of the same day regarding a report he was working on and that he was, after all, a journalist. “Meena agreed to this,” Punia said.

The two were led to a white Scorpio after this and driven away. “We arrived at a run-down building which I am not sure was a police station or not. The officers took off my winter jacket and turned on the ceiling fan in the room I was placed in. They began making absurd conversation amongst themselves saying, ‘Let’s show that he was arrested from a red light area,’ and so on,” he said.

Also watch | Journalists Protest Against Arrest of Mandeep Punia

At a point, a constable rushed into the room and informed the officers that a video of Punia’s arrest has gone viral in social media, he said. The officers left and returned 30 minutes later.

“I was taken to the Ambedkar Hospital in a private car. At 1.40 am, we arrived for a medico-legal. They tried influencing the doctor by telling him that I had a scuffle with the ‘staff,’ but the doctor told them that he had seen the video of my arrest and that he should be left alone to do his job,” Punia told The Wire.

At 3.30 am, Punia said, he was locked up at the Samaypur Badli Police Station. Repeated requests to call his friends, his editor or his wife, were denied, he said.

Punia also said that he was presented before the magistrate at a time when his lawyers were being told that his hearing was going to take place at a later time.

The full video of the interview can be found here.

Journalist Mandeep Punia, Held at Singhu Border, Gets Bail

The Delhi police had opposed Punia’s bail, saying that the he may “indulge in instigating the protesters.”

New Delhi: Journalist Mandeep Punia, who had been detained on Saturday, January 30, at the Singhu border while at work, was given bail on Tuesday, February 2.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Satvir Singh Lamba observed that the complainant, victims and witnesses are all police personnel – a fact that Punia had highlighted in his bail plea on January 31.

“There is no possibility that the accused and applicant can influence any of the police officials,” the judge said.

Punia was arrested by police on Sunday in an FIR registered under various sections including 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Also read: ‘Shooting the Messenger’: Newspaper Editorials Slam FIRs Against Journalists

The court directed Punia not to leave the country without its permission.

The Delhi police had opposed Punia’s bail, saying that the he may “indulge in instigating the protestors and may create nuisance at the protest site with the group of different people and may hamper the investigation.”

The FIR against him states that he had come into physical contact with a constable and had attempted to move through barricades set up by police. A senior police officer told Indian Express that “he misbehaved” and that “there was some manhandling as well.”

However, editors of Caravan magazine, where Punia is a contributor, had said that he was working on a report on what went into the sudden appearance of men who claimed to be locals at Singhu on January 30, when he was arrested.

“It is pertinent to mention here that the alleged scuffle incident of present case is of around 6.30 pm. However, the present FIR was registered at around 1.21 am on the next day,” the court noted.

Punia had noted the seven-hour delay in his plea as well.

“Accused shall not indulge into similar offence or any other offence in the event of release on bail. Accused shall not tamper with the evidences in any manner,” the court told Punia, granting bail.

It further directed that the accused shall join the investigations as and when required by the investigating agency.

Punia will have to furnish bail bond worth Rs 25,000 and a surety of the same amount.

Bar and Bench had reported that Punia, in his bail plea, had highlighted that not having his press card on him was not reason enough to detain him.

Journalists had severely condemned his arrest and had staged a protest outside the police headquarters in New Delhi.

(With PTI inputs)

‘Not Carrying Press Card No Ground for Arrest,’ Says Scribe Sent to 14-Day Judicial Custody

Punia has also contended that no information was given to his family members until late on Saturday night on his detention, and that there was a seven-hour delay in filing the FIR.

New Delhi: Journalist Mandeep Punia who was detained on Saturday at the Singhu border while at work was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Sunday, January 31. His plea for bail was denied.

Delhi Police presented Punia before the Court 2 at Tihar jail where Metropolitan Magistrate Akhil Malik gave the order for his remand, LiveLaw has reported.

The court directed the investigating officer (IO), who was not present at the hearing, to file a formal response. His regular bail plea has been listed at the Rohini Courts today, February 1.

Bar and Bench has reported that Punia, in his bail plea, not only highlighted the fact that both the complainant and the victim are police officers in his case, but also that not having his press card on him was not reason enough to detain him.

Punia has also contended that no information was given to his family members until late on Saturday night on his detention.

The FIR was registered at around 1.21 am, despite him being accused of having been a part of the scuffle at around 6.40 pm the previous evening, the plea also says, highlighting the seven-hour delay.

In the plea filed through advocates Sarim Naved, Akram Khan and Kamran Javed, Punia noted that he had only been executing his duties as a journalist when the police detained him.

Another journalist, Dharmender Singh, who was also detained on Saturday was allowed to go after he displayed his identity card to police.

Also read: Delhi Police Arrest Journalist at Singhu Protest Site, Detain and Release Another

“Accused is a freelance journalist and not carrying press card can be no grounds for a case or arrest,” Punia said in his plea.

Punia has been charged under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), read with Section 34 ( acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, according to LiveLaw.

The FIR against him states that he had come into physical contact with a constable and had attempted to move through barricades set up by police.

A senior police officer told Indian Express that “he misbehaved” and that “there was some manhandling as well.”

Editors of Caravan magazine, where Punia is a contributor, have said that he was working on a report on what went into the sudden appearance of men who claimed to be locals at Singhu on January 30, leading to violence at the site.

Journalists on Sunday evening staged a protest outside police headquarters against Punia’s arrest. The protesters also held a small march near the area.

Delhi Police Arrest Journalist at Singhu Protest Site, Detain and Release Another

Mandeep Punia, a freelance journalist, was arrested and will be produced in court. Dharmender Singh, who works for Online News India, was detained and let go at 5 am on Sunday.

New Delhi: The Delhi police on Saturday detained two journalists covering the ongoing farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s Singhu border. While one of them, Mandeep Punia is a freelance journalist and contributor to the Caravan magazine, another journalist, Dharmender Singh, is a Delhi-based journalist who works for Online News India.

Punia, according to the editors of the Caravan magazine, was on the ground gathering information about the violence that was reported at the protest site two days ago. A group of around 150 men claiming to be “local residents” had managed to get past three layers of security barricades on January 29 and reach the protest site at the Singhu border.

They had staged a brief protest of their own claiming that the farmers’ agitation had affected their livelihood, and within no time had clashed with farm protesters. All this happened in full view of the police, with videos showing that the police were silent spectators when the group began pelting stones at the farmers. Leaders of farmers’ union have claimed that the mob was “sponsored” by the BJP and RSS.

Soon after the news broke about Punia’s detention and a video of him being dragged across the barricade went viral, Hartosh Bal, the political editor of Caravan magazine posted on Twitter that Punia had spent the entire day trying to verify the truth behind the protest. “We’ve learnt Mandeep had spent the morning trying to track down those from BJP claiming to be ‘locals’ at Singhu,” Bal tweeted.

He also wrote that the magazine was informed by Additional DCP J. Meena that an FIR (no: 52/21) was registered at the Alipur police station and section 186, 332, and 353 of the Indian Penal Code were slapped on Punia. All three sections correspond to obstructing any public servant in the discharge of his public function and are bailable offences.

Until late on Saturday, there was no clarity on whether Punia and Singh were arrested or simply detained and eventually allowed to go. In one of his late-night updates, Bal tweeted that the magazine has since been trying to find out precise information from the Delhi Police about Punia’s whereabouts and at least until 11 pm, the organisation was waiting to hear from the police.

But on Sunday morning, the magazine was informed that Punia was formally arrested and would be produced before a magistrate.

According to the Indian Express, Singh was released at 5 am. A Newslaundry reporter said that Singh was released after signing an undertaking which said “he will not do anything like this in future”. It is not clear which actions of Singh the undertaking refers to.

According to reports, a protest has been planned at the Delhi police’ Patel Chowk headquarters.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the BJP is trying to “crush” the farmers’ movement, criticising the cases filed against journalists.

“[The government has] forgotten that if you try to suppress a voice, many more will rise up against your atrocities,” she said.

On Sunday afternoon, reports said that Poonia was sent to judicial custody without his defence lawyer being present. The lawyer claimed that he was informed Poonia would be presented in court at 2 pm, but was produced earlier.

Over the past few days, sedition cases have been slapped on journalists for sharing “unverified” news during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on January 26.

The FIRs were filed in relation to the reporting of the death of a farmer at the tractor rally. Some early reports had suggested that a young farmer, named Navreet Singh, had died from a police bullet. Later, it was claimed that he died because his tractor overturned.

The FIRs were filed across three BJP-ruled states, and also Delhi, against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, National Herald’s senior consulting editor Mrinal Pande, Qaumi Awaz editor Zafar Agha, the Caravan magazine’s editor and founder Paresh Nath, its editor Anant Nath and executive editor Vinod K. Jose, and one unnamed person.

On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh police filed a separate FIR against Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire. The UP police registered a case against Varadarajan for tweeting about what the grandfather of Navreet Singh had said on the record.

Several media organisations have criticised the filing of cases against journalists, comparing the situation to an ‘undeclared emergency’.

“These charges are meant not only to intimidate and harass the journalists but to also to terrorise professionals, to make you afraid to do your job,” said Seema Mustafa, president of the Editor’s Guild of India.