FIR Lodged Against Journalist After Being Assaulted By The Cops

The police reportedly confiscated the journalist’s phone and did not allow her to make any calls.

Mumbai Police has registered FIRs against five people, including journalist Priyanka Borpujari, over an incident where locals allegedly tried to stop police and BMC officials during a demolition drive. Police said that the journalist was trying to incite people against the officials.

On Tuesday afternoon, independent journalist Priyanka Borpujari was allegedly assaulted by the police while filming a slum demolition. The incident took place in Kalina, near Mumbai’s Grand Hyatt hotel, where Borpujari was covering a story for The Hindu.

She has been covering the BMC’s slum demolition drive in the city for the past one year.

Around 2 pm on Tuesday, Peter Griffin, The Hindu’s deputy editor, tweeted that Priyanka had called him when the police started hitting her. He said she has been taken to the Vakola police station. Reportedly, the police confiscated her phone and she was not allowed to make any calls.

One of our journalists assaulted by cops while filming slum demolitions near Grand Hyatt. Cop wanted to confiscate her phone, not allowing her to make phone calls. Now she's not answering her phone. @CPMumbaiPolice @MumbaiPolice @DevenBhartiIPS

— Peter Griffin (@zigzackly) December 26, 2017

Around 3 pm, Griffin and others in the industry said that they had spoken to Priyanka and that she is safe and at home now. 

However, Priyanka mentioned to Gautam Mengle, another reporter at The Hindu, that the Police is not returning her phone as it has visuals of them assaulting children living in the slums being demolished.

I just spoke to @Pri_Borpujari and she told me that she's safe. However, she added, her cellphone has visuals of cops assaulting slumdweller children, and hence they're not returning it to her. @zigzackly @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DevenBhartiIPS https://t.co/BYjpbBpyFI

— Gautam S. Mengle (@NotMengele) December 26, 2017

Mumbai Police took cognisance of the matter and since then has reached to Griffin with an update that Priyanka was arrested for not having a valid press ID card and for “instigating the crowd to raise slogans”, which then assaulted the police, the reason they have given for filing the FIR against her and four others.

Priyanka Borpujari is an independent journalist and a member of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) as an Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow and the Network of Women in Media, India.

She is a freelance contributor and has written for The Hindu, Asian Age, Mumbai Mirror, Scroll, and other publications. Her work has also featured in Al Jazeera, The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

(This is a developing story and will be updated as and when details come in.)

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