One chilly February evening in 2005, Amar Ujala reporter Samiuddin Neelu was returning home when he was allegedly kidnapped by a special unit of the Uttar Pradesh police.


Driven in a jeep to a remote forest outside Lakhimpur Kheri, bordering Nepal, he was held at gunpoint and asked to write a suicide note as the police threatened to eliminate him in an 'encounter' killing.Samiuddin's presence of mind saved him.


He told the police that he had already warned the then Mulayam Singh-led Samajwadi Party government, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Press Council of India. The policemen backed off.


The harassment, however, didn't end. The journalist was falsely implicated and imprisoned for nine days under the Wildlife Act for possessing contraband. Read more