A journalist was allegedly manhandled by the Uttar Pradesh police inside a police station for trying to film an alleged assault on the mother of the victims in the Lakhimpur Kheri rape and murder case, Newslaundry has reported.
In a video being circulated on social media, police personnel can be seen circling around journalist Nand Kishor and dragging him with their arm around the latter’s neck. The incident in the video took place on Wednesday, 14 September.
Speaking to Aaj Tak, the journalist claimed that he was inside the Lakhimpur Kheri police chowki, where the parents of the victims were also present. Kishor said that the police allegedly pulled the minor Dalit victims’ mother by her hair and assaulted her.
Kishor claimed that when he tried to film the incident, he was pushed away by the Station House Officer and chowki in-charge. “You will do journalism after coming here?” Kishor was allegedly told by the cops.
Seven accused have been arrested so far in the case, where two Dalit minor sisters were raped, murdered, and hung from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district.
An FIR has been registered against four of the accused under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections pertaining to murder and rape, and also under the stringent Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
Village residents held a demonstration on Wednesday night at Nighasan Cross to protest the alleged killings. Police personnel were deployed in large numbers to ensure law and order.
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