Scribes protest against FIR, demand fair investigation in UP's Mirzapur

VARANASI: Journalists in Mirzapur staged a demonstration before the commissioner’s office on Tuesday, protested against the criminal conspiracy case lodged against a local scribe and submitted a memorandum demanding a fair probe in the incident.

Commissioner Anand Kumar Singh said that he would seek detailed account of the matter from the district magistrate and take appropriate action. Raising slogans against local administration, journalists reached the commissioners office. They alleged that journalists are being harassed while discharging their professional duties. They alleged that a journalist was beaten up at Chunar postmortem house on Monday. They demanded security and safety of journalists at work. The delegation, comprising Patrakar Press Club district president Sajid Ansari, Pravin Tiwari, Ramlal Sahni and others met the commissioner, who assured that he would look into the matter.

An FIR was lodged against local journalist Pawal Jaiswal and two more persons on August 31 for shooting a video showing students of a primary school eating roti-namak in mid-day meal at a primary school in Siyur village on August 22 and posting it on social media.

The FIR was lodged on complaint of block education officer Prem Shankar Ram. Jaiswal, village head representative Rajkumar Pal and an unknown person have been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 193 (false evidence) and 420 (cheating) of IPC.

Acting headmaster Murari Singh and nyay panchayat official Arvind Tripathi were suspended soon after the video went viral.