Madhya Pradesh: Protesters, Including Journalist, Forced To Strip Down To Undergarments By Cops

A YouTube journalist Kanishk Tiwari, who had gone there to cover the protest against the arrest of the theatre artist, was taken into custody along with others for protesting without permission.

(Representative Image/Getty)

Bhopal: A group of men, including a journalist and few activists and theatre artists, were allegedly asked to strip down to their undergarments inside a police station in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district. The image of the incident has gone viral on social media that shows eight men standing against the wall in without clothes.

A local journalist along with some activists was protesting "in unauthorised manner" in front of the Kotwali police station in Sidhi against the arrest of Neeraj Kunder, director of Indravati Drama School, on April 2, news agency PTI reported.

According to Kotwali police station in-charge Manoj Soni, Kunder was arrested for allegedly putting out defamatory posts against local BJP MLA Kedar Nath Shukla and his son Gurudutt Sharan Shukla on Facebook using a false identity. 

Two police officials were transferred soon after the incident came to light on Thursday.

A YouTube journalist Kanishk Tiwari, who had gone there to cover the protest against the arrest of the theatre artist, was taken into custody along with others for protesting without permission and disrupting the peace, Soni told PTI.

The agitators also shouted slogans against MLA Shukla and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. All the protestors were released on April 3. But their photographs in underwear went viral on social media later.

When asked about the viral photos, Soni said that the protesters were asked to strip down to underwear because sometimes people hang themselves in custody using their clothes and this was a preventive measure.

Meanwhile, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken cognizance of the matter and sought strict action against Police officials involved in the incident.

(With inputs from PTI.)