Police in eastern India arrested a local journalist and beat him after he criticised authorities on social media and demanded a law protecting reporters in a region embroiled in a Maoist insurgency, his supporters said on Wednesday.
Prabhat Singh was taken away by police late Monday, said his brother, Vishnu Singh.
Prabhat Singh works in the Bastar region of India’s Chhattisgarh state, a centre for rebels who stage hit-and-run attacks on government troops across central and eastern India.
The rebellion has been described as India’s biggest internal security threat.
Singh was brought before a court on Tuesday and charged with circulating obscene material, his lawyer Khitij Dubey said. The lawyer said Singh told the court that he was beaten in custody.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded that Chhattisgarh authorities release Singh immediately.
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