Times Now Navbharat reporter Bhawana Kishore walks out of Ludhiana jail

Ludhiana (Punjab): TV journalist Bhawana Kishore was released from a jail here on Sunday, a day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted interim bail to her.

Kishore and two others were arrested by Punjab Police on Friday when their vehicle allegedly hit a woman, injuring her hand.

A duty magistrate on Sunday ordered the superintendent of the Central Jail Ludhiana to release the TV reporter after furnishing of bail bonds.

Assistant Commissioner of Police of Ludhiana Rajesh Sharma said she was released from the jail Sunday evening.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on Saturday granted interim bail to Kishore.

Several journalist bodies have condemned the police action after the TV reporter was booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, besides charges for rash driving, and "detained".

The Editors Guild said the FIR registered against the reporter at a Ludhiana police station "appears excessive and with undue haste".

In a statement, Times Now Navbharat claimed its journalist Kishore, cameraman Mrityunjay and a driver were arrested by the Ludhiana Police on charges of rash driving and insulting Dalits after a series of "orchestrated events".

The media organisation also alleged that Kishore was held without the presence of any woman police personnel in the car and that she was denied legal and telephone access and was arrested post-sunset.

The journalist had moved the high court seeking quashing of the FIR.

Kishore's counsel Chetan Mittal had on Saturday said the court has granted interim bail to her and fixed May 8 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

The Punjab police had said the television journalist along with two others were arrested in Ludhiana on Friday after their vehicle allegedly hit a woman, resulting in an injury to her hand. They were also accused of using derogatory language against the complainant.

In its statement, the TV channel said it had been invited to cover an AAP political programme hosted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwat Mann in Ludhiana.

It alleged that a group of women in an e-rickshaw rammed their vehicle into the journalist's car and got into a brawl, adding that it has reasons to believe that the women were "motivated AAP workers".

It claimed that it has been subjected to harassment over the coverage of the story on the expenditure incurred in the renovation of Kejriwal's official residence under Operation SheeshMahal.

However, AAP leader Atishi had Saturday said that no one is above the law and Punjab Police must take the strongest possible action. She had said that the matter should be left to the court.