Indian Journalists Forced to Strip for Criticizing Hindu-nationalist Leader

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Eight men, including a journalist and a prominent theater artist in Madhya Pradesh, were arrested, stripped, and photographed by local police. One of the victims also said they were beaten and abused before being stripped.

According to NDTV, the incident happened on Saturday, April 2, when Kanishka Tiwari, a local journalist and YouTuber, tried covering the protest against the arrest of theatre artist Neeraj Kunder. Tiwari said he was arrested along with his cameraman and was interrogated by Kotawali police.

According to Tiwari, the police asked him why he was "running stories against the MLA."

Tiwari runs a Youtube channel called MP Sandesh News 24 and has a significant local following in the central Indian state.


"The police took us into custody at around 8:00 PM on April 2 and released us at 6:00 PM on April 3," Tiwari said.

Bhadohi Wallah, another local journalist, Tweeted an uncensored picture of the victims. In his Tweet, Wallah said, "their crime is that they wrote news against the ruling party's MLA Kedarnath Shukla."

Before Tiwari's arrest, relatives of Kunder went to the Kotwali police station to protest his arrest.

Kunder was accused by Kedarnath Shukla, a BJP MLA, of creating a fake Facebook account and posting "abusive posts against Shukla and his son Gurudutt." Shukla filed a complaint on March 16.

Majoj Soni, Station House Office of the Kotawali police, said the picture circulated was a standard routine for their station. Soni explained that they needed to strip detainees to avoid any incidents of suicide.

"We keep them in jail in this way so that they cannot commit suicide using their clothes," Soni explained.

However, Mukhesh Shrivastava, the police superintendent of Madhya Pradesh, said the incident is being investigated. "Irrespective of the crime committed by the culprits, such action is not acceptable," Shrivastava said.

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