Lucknow, December 21: A journalist was detained for hours on Friday and allegedly abused by Lucknow police in connection with the violence that broke out in several parts of Uttar Pradesh during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act on Friday. Omar Rashid, Uttar Pradesh correspondent for The Hindu newspaper, alleged that during detention a police officer hurled communal slurs at him and threatened to tear his beard. Anti-CAA Protests in Uttar Pradesh: Death Toll Rises to 11, Police Deny Firing at Protesters.

Speaking to a news channel, Omar Rashid said that he and his friend were picked by UP police from a restaurant where he was using wifi to file his story. Clad in plain clothes, cops interrogated him and his friend and later took them to a police station. Recounting his ordeal, Omar said that his friend was brutally assaulted inside the police station and cops accused him of being the main conspirator behind the violence during anti-CAA protests. Sonia Gandhi Accuses Modi Govt of Using 'Brute Force' to Suppress Dissent Against Citizenship Amendment Act.

"Each time I was trying to ask them something they asked me to shut up. They used expletives and said you can put your journalism elsewhere, we don't care about it. They told me they had proof against me. They put us in a jeep again and took us to an outpost. Another police officer used a lot of communal slurs against me and said he would tear my beard," Omar was quoted as saying. He was released only after his colleagues informed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office about his detention.

Omar, who hails from Kashmir and whose account of what happened during his detention, said that he was released and cops who threatened him apologised for "confusion". Reacting to Omar's detention, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted: "If this is how policing works in BJP-run UP, we may as well subtract that state from India’s democracy!" Violence broke out in several parts of Uttar Pradesh during large-scale protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Friday afternoon.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 21, 2019 12:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).