Chhatarpur: Journalist Mintu Dubey, assaulted & framed in false charges, alleges family

A Station House Officer (SHO) in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur has been accused of assaulting and mistreating a journalist after falsely framing him on robbery charges. The accusation was made by the family of Mintu Dubey, a freelance journalist based in Madhya Pradesh.  The said SHO, named  Kamlesh Sahu belongs to the Civil Lines police station of Chhatarpur district.

As per a Newslaundry report, Mintu Dubey’s sister Sunita Tiwari, visited him after his arrest on August 10. She told Newslaundary that Mintu informed her that he was being targeted for an old report accusing the Civil Lines police station staff of extortion. She said Mintu had been “threatened” by the SHO earlier as well. 

Sunita Tiwari then lodged a complaint of the SHO’s misconduct with Chhatarpur superintendent of police Amit Sanghi on August 19. The SP told Newslaundry that he had issued an inquiry into Dubey's case and said that appropriate action would be taken based on the inquiry's findings.

Robbery incident 

Reportedly, a robbery incident took place on August 8-  Ramesh Chand Gupta, a shop owner was robbed of Rs 3,100 by two motorcyclists. The robbery happened while  Gupta was cycling home after midnight. The filing of the First Information Report (FIR) as well as Mintu’s arrest also took place on the same day.

However, as per the Newslaundry, significant doubts surround the case. The complainant of the robbery incident does not recognize the alleged attackers. Moreover, no identification parade for recognising the robbers was conducted by the police. On top of that, the FIR does not mention journalist Mintu Dubey’s name.  Dubey's family asserts that the journalist was framed due to an earlier report he had written accusing the Civil Lines police station staff of extortion.

“We don’t know who those people were. The police arrested two persons but they have not called us yet to identify them,”  Ramesh Gupta’s wife told Newslaundry. “My husband is partially impaired so he did not hear half the things the police told him while filing the FIR,” she said when asked about the robbery case.

Allegations against the SHO

On being asked about the alleged misconduct by Newslaundry, SHO Kamlesh Sahu reportedly dismissed all allegations as "baseless”. The SHO further asserted that Dubey was                                                                                             “not even a legitimate journalist” and that he was intoxicated during the incident. 

Notably, SHO Sahu has faced additional allegations of harassment in the past. As per the newslaundrry report, a woman named Ranjana Raikwar had accused Sahu of misconduct on August  8, claiming that he subjected her and her friends to harassment at the Civil Lines police station. Raikawar added that her complaint in  SP’s office was not accepted and that she had to send it via post.

Raikwar's complaint to superintendent of police dated August 10, described being detained through the night, subjected to crass comments, and witnessing her friend's assault by Sahu. Particularly, she highlighted the lack of female officers during their detention. As per Newslaundry, SP Sanghi refused from commenting on the Raikawar’s allegations until the inquiry's completion.

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