Deepak Bundele

Journalist and Lawyer

Madhya Pradesh

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on July 31, 2020 regarding the fabricated case against Mr. Deepak Bundele for challenging illegal and wrongful actions of Madhya Pradesh Police. Mr. Bundele is a journalist and lawyer, and practices in Betul district.

An FIR was filed against Mr. Bundele on June 18, 2020 under Sections 188, 353 and 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the complaint of Mr. Mohit Kumar Dubey, Sub Inspector, Kotwali Police Station. Mr. Dubey alleged that when police personnel stopped Mr. Bundele for violating lockdown rules and not wearing a mask, Mr. Bundele abused and assaulted them.  

The FIR was in reprisal of Mr. Bundele’s complaints to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) regarding the communal nature of the police force. In a letter to the DSP dated March 24, 2020, he alleged that Assistant Sub Inspector Mr. BS Patel and Head Constable Mr. Chandu Raghuvanshi of the Kotwali police station assaulted him a day earlier when he questioned their communal comments. 

Police personnel visited Mr. Bundele on May 17, 2020 for recording his statement, and asked him to withdraw the case, saying that the assault owed to his being mistaken for a Muslim due to his beard. Instead of withdrawing the case, Mr. Bundele recorded the conversation, and complained to the Director General of Police (DGP) on May 18, 2020 about the communal nature of Betul police and efforts to intimidate him into withdrawing his complaint. He complained again on June 11, 2020 and asked for a case to be registered against those who had beaten him up on religious grounds. Though Mr. Bundele was granted anticipatory bail on July 1, 2020, he is living under constant fear of being imprisoned on false charges.