NHRC seeks report on scribe arrest

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday sought a report from Chhattisgarh government on the arrest of a scribe in south Bastar district of Dantewada in the state a couple of days ago.

The NHRC issued notices to chief secretary Vivek Dhand and director general of police (DGP) A N Upadhyay seeking a reply on the arrest of Dantewada-based journalist Prabhat Singh, in two weeks, an official spokesman said here. Mr Singh, who works for a Hindi daily, was arrested late on Monday evening on charges of circulating “obscene comments” on a senior police officer posted in Bastar in a WhatsApp group and produced before the court on Tuesday. The court remanded him to judicial custody till March 31. Mr Singh’s brother alleged custodial torture of the scribe by the police. Bastar district superintendent of police Rajendra Narayan Das said Mr Singh was booked under Information Technology (IT) Act by a Bijapur-based journalist in south Bastar and other journalists for allegedly posting a derogatory message in the WhatsApp group early this month. “Prabhat is not a journalist as per our record,” a police officer posted in Bastar said. He was also charged with cheating in another case. Mr Singh was the third Bastar journalist arrested by the police in three months.