: मुंबई पुलिस की क्रूरता का वीडियो : मुंबई से एक साथी ने यह वीडियो भड़ास4मीडिया के पास भेजा है. कुछ मिनट के इस वीडियो के जरिए आप देखकर जान सकते हैं कि अपनी भारतीय पुलिस कितनी बर्बर और अराजक है. दुनिया भर में पुलिसिंग को जनपक्षधर बनाने और न्यूनतम हिंसा के जरिए संचालित किए जाने के प्रयास जोरों पर है. लेकिन अपने देश में पुलिस ने जैसे तय कर रखा हो कि उसे तो सिर्फ डंडे के जरिए ही पुलिसिंग करनी है, बाकी कोई फंडा नहीं सीखना.
वीडियो देखने से पता चल रहा है कि एक कम उम्र के लड़के को मुंबई के पनवेल इलाके के पुलिस वाले बेतरह मार रहे हैं. दो पुलिस वालों ने उसके हाथ-पैर पकड़ कर उल्टा कर रखा है और दो-तीन अन्य पुलिस वाले लड़के की पीठ पैर आदि पर पट्टों, फट्टों, लाठियों के जरिए मारे जा रहे हैं. जब लड़का बुरी तरह चीखने लगता है तो उसे कुछ देर के लिए छोड़ते हैं और वह लड़का जाने क्या क्या बोलता रहता है. संभव है, जो युवक इन पुलिस वालों की क्रूरता का शिकार हो रहा है, उसका किसी मामले में कोई अपराध हो और पुलिस उससे कुछ पता लगाने का काम कर रही हो लेकिन क्या यही एक तरीका है पता लगाने का? और, क्यों यह पिटाई का हथियार ही गरीब लोगों पर अप्लाई किया जाता है जबकि कोई अमीर आदमी या बड़ा माफिया पकड़ा जाता है तो यही पुलिस वाले थाने में बिठाकर उसको चाय-पानी पिलाने लगते हैं. क्या पुलिस वालों का डंडा भी अमीर-गरीब के हिसाब से ही चलते हैं?
इस देश में मानवाधिकार आयोग समेत कई ऐसे संस्थान, प्रतिष्ठान, संगठन आदि हैं जो पुलिस उत्पीड़न के शिकार लोगों के लिए काम करते हैं पर ज्यादातर मामलों में गरीब व अशिक्षित लोग इन संगठनों तक पहुंच ही नहीं पाते. इसी कारण पुलिस वाले गरीबों पर अपने डंडों का बेखौफ प्रयोग करते रहते हैं. इस वीडियो के डिटेल्स नहीं पता हैं. कोई पत्रकार साथी अगर वीडियो में दिख रहे युवक व पुलिस वालों व संबंधित प्रकरण के बारे में बता सके तो इस मामले को विस्तार से जाना जा सकता है और न्याय के लिए पहल की जा सकती है. फिलहाल तो यही कहा जा सकता है कि हम भारत में रहते हुए पाकिस्तान-अफगानिस्तान में अराजक हालात को देखकर जिस तरह चिंतित होते हैं और फिर शुक्र मनाते हैं कि हम भारत में हैं जहां ऐसा कुछ नहीं होता, वह सब सिर्फ दिल को खुश रखने का खयाल भर है. अपने भारत में भी आम जन का बहुत भयंकर शोषण व उत्पीड़न होता है और अपराधी-आरोपी किस्म के पुलिसवालों का कोई कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ पाता.
मुंबई से प्रकाशित मिडडे अखबार ने पत्रकार ताराकांत द्विवेदी उर्फ अकेला की दास्तान प्रकाशित की है. अकेला ने कहा है कि अगर उनके साथ पुलिस ऐसा बर्ताव कर सकती है तो आम आदमियों की क्या दशा-दुर्दशा ये पुलिस बनाती होगी, सोचा जा सकता है. स्टोरी में अकेला ने पूरा किस्सा बताया है, पढ़िए…
Nothing can break me now : Akela
Released on bail after being kept in police custody for five days under the draconian Official Secrets Act, MiD DAY reporter Tarakant Dwivedi AKA Akela writes that the entire plot reeked of conspiracy, but that the experience has only made him stronger and more determined
अकेलाAs a crime reporter for nearly 15 years, I have witnessed the lines between criminals and those entrusted with stopping them getting increasingly blurred. I have come across and exposed absolute crooks masquerading as policemen and was aware that my reports were rubbing people in high places the wrong way. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone from the establishment, armed with a misguided notion of revenge, sought to come after me and implicate me in a fabricated case. But, the scale and planning of last week’s act of personal vendetta took even me by surprise.
On Tuesday, May 17, hours after three policemen whisked me away from office claiming they wanted to record my statement in a trespassing case, I was taken to St George Hospital for a medical exam. However, no doctor came to examine me and I was declared fit for police custody after the cops got a few medical papers stamped. I overheard a man, who looked like the complainant in my case, speaking to a police constable who was accompanying me. “Sir, I’ve been after this case for the last two days. I haven’t eaten or met my family.
You will take care of me, right?” the man asked the constable. I was stunned. It began to sink in that taking my statement was just a ruse and my arrest was pre-planned down to the last detail.
Fear creeps in
I was then lodged in a 300-sq ft police lock-up at CST railway station. There, in that dingy, stinking cell, which was devoid of even a fan or a ventilator, fear struck me for the first time. I wasn’t afraid of letting the law taking its course but what did scare me were the innumerable stories of torture and other excesses in police custody that I’d heard from the victims first hand. People had told me repeatedly that all voices that spoke against the police force were systematically crushed by the men in uniform.
And my fears did not prove unfounded, for, soon, ACP Anil Mahabole of the Azad Maidan division walked menacingly into the lock-up. “I wanted to see you behind bars,” he spat out. “Tum bohut bade aadmi ho. Mera phone bhi nahi lete ho,” he said, leading me to think that I had hurt his big ego. “Main aapka darshan karne aaya hoon,” he sniggered.
I knew I was a victim of Mahabole’s personal vendetta and he confirmed my suspicion when he said, just before he left, that ACP Bapu Thombre, Inspector Pandharinath Yeram and Pradip Sonthalia (the complainant in my case) were his chelas. “I hope you get my point. Baaki bahar milenge,” he said, glee dripping from his voice.
Till I was produced in court on Wednesday, I had no idea they were slapping sections of the draconian Official Secrets Act (OSA) on me. I have done stories on the Act and knew exactly how stringent it was.
Hospitalisation
Sitting alone in the lock-up that night, I was worrying where the case was going when the stench and stuffiness began to get to me. I started feeling a bout of nausea and uneasiness, accompanied by chest pain. I requested the lock-up officer for a medical check-up. After preliminary examination, the doctor advised that I stay in the hospital. While I was being taken to the ward, the detection officer, PSI Gajur, tried to coax the doctor into not admitting me because I was a journalist. “He is a dangerous criminal,” he told the doctor.
The next morning, ACP Bapu Thombre came to visit me in the hospital. “Since you are admitted, I will have to seek further police custody,” he said in a menacing tone. On Saturday, five days after I was taken into custody and the day my bail application was scheduled to be heard, I saw the cops arm-twist the law. The case papers that were needed to be produced in the hospital were deliberately delayed so that I would miss my date. I saw my colleagues and fellow journalists argue and fight with the police and the hospital authorities to speed up the procedure.
Finally, at 3.15 pm, I was produced in court, which granted me bail. I have now resolved to seek judicial inquiry in this case. Yesterday, as I was readying to leave the hospital, I felt stronger and more determined to speak the truth. Nothing can bend or break me, I kept reassuring myself. As I strode out, a couplet came to mind: Jab paida hui police, toh khush hua iblees, Ki ab hum bhi sahibe aulaad ho gaye (The evil men rejoiced when the police force was formed; for they now had their own children to nurture).
On my way back to work, I kept thinking that if the police can do this to a journalist, who can speak out for himself in the media, what must the ordinary citizen have to go through?
पुलिस हिरासत में अकेला: काश, ऐसा ही कवरेज हर अखबार-चैनल अपने मुश्किल में पड़े-फंसे पत्रकारों के लिए देते : मुंबई के मिडडे के पत्रकार ताराकांत द्विवेदी उर्फ अकेला की गिरफ्तारी और रिहाई के मामले में मिडडे अखबार ने जिस तरह का कवरेज दिया है, वह काबिल-ए-तारीफ है. मुंबई के पत्रकारों ने अपने साथी को फंसाए जाने के खिलाफ जो एकजुटता दिखाई है, वह प्रशंसनीय व अनुकरणीय है. मिडडे में प्रकाशित खबर व तस्वीरें इसकी गवाह हैं…
Freedom of press
by- Ketan Ranga
Mumbai : 2011-05-22
MiD DAY crime reporter Tarakant Dwivedi a.k.a Akela finally walked free on Saturday after he was arrested under an antiquated Official Secrets Act last week. Delay tactics by an indifferent police almost ensured that the reporter, who was admitted to the ICU on Wednesday, didn’t make it to his bail hearing on time. Almost. Akela jokes, the only crime he can be accused of is that he did his job too well First they draw up an incorrect First Information Report, then they alter the charges and arrest a seasoned crime reporter under an antiquated law on a Government holiday.
Finally, the Government Railway Police do their best to keep MiD DAY principal correspondent Tarakant Dwivedi, who writes stories under the byline ‘Akela’, for two extra days behind bars by delaying his bail process. Akela, who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of St George Hospital on Wednesday, after complaining of chest pain in police custody, was expected at a hearing at the Railway court on Saturday.
However, thanks to indifferent police officials, he almost didn’t make it. Finally, his friends and family rallied to get the journalist to court, so his custody could be changed from police to judicial and his bail plea accepted. Akela’s court hearing was scheduled for Saturday, and the GRP was required to produce a letter asking permission from the hospital to produce Akela in court. Without the letter, the hospital could not release Akela.
The police produced the letter only at 1.35 pm, barely half an hour before the judge was to go for a lunch break. The railway court functions six days a week from 11 am to 5 pm. Reaching the court late reduces one’s chances of receiving bail. If the railway court had refused bail, Akela would have had to appeal to the Sessions court, which because of police delay, could only have been possible on Monday.
However Akela, who was represented by advocates Arpan Rajput and Annie Fernandes of solicitor firm Mulla & Mulla, made it to the court on time, thanks to his friends, family and colleagues. Although the court asked for Akela twice on Saturday morning, the GRP who should have approached the hospital before the court begins, only reached in the afternoon. The hospital authorities maintained that if the police had come in with the letter at 10 am, they would have released Akela in less than an hour.
Railway GRP Commissioner Tukaram Chavan said, “This is not done. The investigating officer should have gone to the hospital and completed the formalities early in the morning.” It was left to Akela’s friends to complete the formalities with the hospital as the police officer said he knew nothing about the case. Finally, they received a two-hour reprieve from the hospital and they wheeled the reporter to court. In such cases, it is required of the police to take the person to court in a vehicle if he is unfit to travel. That wasn’t done either.
Akela was finally produced in court at 3 pm, and was sent to judicial custody. His advocates had handed the bail application to the police in advance, but the police asked for time till Monday to go through the application. However, the judge ordered the police to complete assessing the application by 5 pm. By 5.30 pm, the crime reporter walked free, after being released on a personal bond sum of Rs 10,000, with the agreement that he would assist the police in their inquiry in the matter.
The whole case has raised doubts about the nature of the complaint filed by Pradeep Sonthalia, a civil citizen, who cannot charge someone under the Official Secrets Act. The complaint against Akela was lodged by Sonthalia, a private citizen, under Section 447 (Trespassing) of the Indian Penal Code because the reporter had allegedly entered the government armoury in CST in connection with a report that he filed in June 2010.
Mid day principal correspondent Akela is wheeled out of St George Hospital at 3 pm on Saturday to be produced before the Railway Court. Pics/ Sameer Markande
Journalists gather at Home Minister R R Patil’s office in Mantralaya to protest against the arrest of the senior crime reporter allegedly under the Official Secret Act on May 19.
Sonthalia had subsequently sought for charges under the OSA being added in the FIR. The Home Department has also instituted an enquiry into the role of Assistant Commissioner of Police Anil Mahabole, who visited the lock up on Wednesday, before he was admitted to the hospital and threatened him. The Department has also asked for an enquiry in to the role played by Bapu Thombre, who threatened Akela at the hospital. Investigating officer Police Inspector Yeram Pandarinath had been taken off the case on Friday, and it has now been handed to ACP Dilip Chavan.
Timeline
June 28, 2010: Akela’s story ‘Leaks in CST armoury puts new anti-terror arms under threat’ published on the front page of Mumbai Mirror
September ’10: Pradeep Sonthalia approaches Railway Court to file a case under Section 447 of the Indian Penal Code which pertains to trespass
October ’10: Court directs Government Railway Police to probe how pictures of the armoury were clicked acting on the complaint of Sonthalia
November ’10: GRP registers case against Mumbai Mirror photographer, who took the photographs of the ammunition. Akela’s name is not mentioned in the FIR
March 2011: Akela’s name crops up during investigation
April 2011: Railway Court orders a “competent body should probe the case under the Official Secrets Act, if applicable”
May 17, 2011: Akela is called to the CST police station to record a statement for trespassing into the police armoury, under Section 447 of IPC
Same day: Section imposed upon Akela changed after he records his statement; GRP arrest Akela under Section 3 (1) (a) of the Official Secrets Act of 1923, remand him to three days police custody
May 18, 2011: Akela admitted to ICU of St George Hospital after complaining of chest pain while in lock up
May 19, 2011: GRP Commissioner Tukaram Chavan tells Home Minister RR Patil that he had not instructed his officials to prosecute Akela under the Official Secrets Act
Same day: 200 mediapersons march from Marathi Patrakar Sangh to Mantralaya; meet Home Minister R R Patil
May 21, 2011: Akela is granted two hours leave to visit Railway Court for hearing, granted bail by 5.30 pm
