‘I was targeted’: YouTube journalist stripped in Madhya Pradesh police station, photos go viral

In recent news, photos of half-naked men reportedly standing inside a police station in Madhya Pradesh have been going viral. The photograph shows eight men standing semi-naked, with local YouTube journalist Kanishk Tiwari seen among the group.

As per IANS reports, Kanishk Tiwari, along with others were arrested while they had gone to the police station to enquire about Neeraj Kunder - a theatre artiste arrested for allegedly using abusive language against a BJP legislator and his son.

The group of men was reportedly arrested for protesting the arrest of Kunder. A police officer said that during the protest, they sat on a road, "disrupting the movement of the public".

Soon after Tiwari and the other men were arrested by MP police, the photographs of them where they could be seen stripped down to their undergarments went viral. The photos were reportedly clicked on April 2.

Tiwari told IANS that he along with others was protesting against the arrest of Neeraj Kunder, whom the police had arrested based on an FIR lodged by BJP MLA from Sidhi, Kedarnath Shukla. According to the journalist, he had gone to the police station to inquire about the arrest of Kunder, at the request of his family.

Tiwari said that though he was there for journalistic reasons, the police arrested him and held him for around 18 hours, and “beat him up badly”.

As per IANS reports, the journalist said, “I am working as a freelance journalist and recently I had filed a report that was deemed to be against Kedarnath Shukla, and because of that news, I was targeted.”

Videos that were circulated on social media show that Tiwari, along with others, was protesting outside the police station and was raising slogans against MLA Shuka and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The video further shows protestors being arrested and thrashed by the police.

Sidhi Superintendent of Police Mukesh Srivastava, while talking to IANS, said, “During the investigation, it was found that Kunder had created an account on Facebook with a fake identity. We have also sought an inquiry report from Facebook and we were told that the account was created using a fake ID. Subsequently, he was arrested on April 2 and presented at the court.”

"The protesters were booked under IPC Section 151 and were kept under preventive detention. They were released on bail on April 3,” Srivastava added.

(With IANS inputs)