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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | CBI asked to probe U.P. journalist's case by J Balaji

CBI asked to probe U.P. journalist's case by J Balaji

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published Published on Dec 23, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 23, 2011

The National Human Rights Commission has asked the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe a complaint by Amar Ujala reporter Sammiuddin alias Neelu that he was falsely implicated by the Lakhimpur Kheri district police in Uttar Pradesh in a criminal case under the Wildlife Act. The police were threatening that he would be bumped off in an encounter, the complainant alleged.

The CBI should also probe the role of the then Superintendent of Police of the district and other cops in the matter, the Commission directed.

The Commission took the decision as there were two contradicting reports by the State Crime Branch CID which investigated the journalist's complaint initially – the first one stating that his complaint was genuine and the second one contradicting it. In fact, the Commission had ordered payment of Rs.5 lakh to the journalist based on the CB-CID's first report. The report was dated March 8, 2007, and the compensation order was issued on February 4, 2010, “as he was victimised by the cops for exercising his right to freedom of expression”. However, after the second report of the CB-CID, the UP Government stopped payment and thereafter a case was registered against the journalist. The Government said that it did not find any justification in granting relief to Sammiuddin as recommended by the Commission.

The earlier CB-CID report had concluded that there was no independent witness except the police officers to state that Mr. Sammiuddin had in his possession contraband wildlife articles. Departmental action was also taken against the errant police officers in the case for not procuring independent evidence. Now, after the second CB-CID report contradicting the earlier report by the same agency, the Commission observed that “the matter has gone on for a long time”. The protracted correspondence carried out with the State authorities and personal interaction with the Additional DG (Human Rights) on several occasions “leads to one and only one escapable assumption that a concerted move is on to deny compensation to the victim -- Sammiuddin -- whose human rights have been violated by the UP State.”

“It beats comprehension as to why a case registered and investigated by the CB-CID relating to animal skin, nails of tiger, etc., allegedly recovered from the victim culminated in the Final Report, but in the subsequent inquiry the same agency, CB-CID, has changed its version and now trying to prove that the case was genuine,” the Commission stated.

The reporter claimed that he had no criminal history. He alleged that in the absence of independent evidence the police had falsely implicated him. The journalist made the complaint to the Commission on July 13, 2006.


The Hindu, 23 December, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2740092.ece


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