Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit speaks to CM Bhagwant Mann, expresses concern over journalist's arrest in Ludhiana

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, May 6

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit reportedly spoke to CM Bhagwant Mann on Saturday, expressing concern over the arrest of journalist Bhawna Kishore.

She was arrested by Ludhiana Police on Thursday after a car she was riding met with an accident.

Official sources told The Tribune that Purohit expressed concern over the incident and reportedly said such incidents brought a bad name to the government.

The journalist, representing a TV news channel, was detained for hours on Friday at Division No 3 police station, when the car she was riding hit a woman.

The journalist, along with two others, was also booked on charges of using derogatory language. She was reportedly produced before a duty magistrate on Friday evening and sent in police remand. It is learnt that she is to be produced before the court on Saturday.

The TV channel has been crying foul, saying their journalist has been arrested as “revenge” for the news they carried on the renovation of the house of AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal.

The journalist was arrested reportedly by a male police officer, and no woman officer was present at the time of her arrest.

She had gone to Ludhiana to cover the inauguration of the Aam Aadmi Clinics, by the chief ministers of Punjab and Delhi.

Official sources in the Chief Minister’s Office say Mann told the Governor that the case was not registered against a journalist, but against a person who made casteist remarks against another woman.

“The CM told the Governor that information received from the spot had revealed that the journalist’s mobile was broken when the accident happened and she stepped out of the car and had an argument with the woman, Gagan, who is the complainant in the case. The argument turned ugly and the journalist abused the complainant, who approached the police and the FIR was registered,” said a senior officer in the CMO.