Azamgarh: The district magistrate here on Monday ordered a probe into the arrest of a journalist allegedly after he took photographs of some children mopping the floor in their school.
Santosh Jaiswal was arrested for allegedly obstructing public servants from discharging their duty and extortion, charges similar to those levelled against a reporter in Mirzapur after he caught just salt and rotis being served to children at another school in the state.
On September 7, police had booked five journalists in Bijnor after they reported that a Dalit family was prevented from drawing water from a hand pump.
In Azamgarh, local journalist said the charges against Jaiswal were false.
Their delegation met district magistrate N.P. Singh who has ordered a probe, a fellow journalist said. “No injustice will be meted out to the journalist. We will look into the matter,” Azamgarh DM N.P. Singh told them.
Jaiswal was arrested on Friday after he took photographs of schoolchildren mopping the floor. He called the police to inform them of the illegal practice, local journalists said.
The police, however, took both Jaiswal and Oodpur primary school principal Radhey Shyam Yadav to the Phulpur police station.
The school principal lodged a complaint against Jaiswal on the basis of which an FIR was registered against him on Friday and he was arrested, a local journalist said.
