India, Feb. 18 -- Defying prohibitory orders, dozens of traders led by former councillors staged a massive protest outside the Shalimar Garden police station in Ghaziabad on Monday and demanded the scrapping of an FIR lodged by a journalist who had alleged that suspects threatened her and warned her of dire consequences after she reported about an "illegal dhaba" being operated in the area.

The traders, along with locals led by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Sardar Singh Bhati, gathered outside the police station and protested against the FIR registered by police on a complaint given by local journalist, Sunita Upadhyaya, who works for Harit Bulletin.

The FIR registered on February 13 names Bhati and Kalicharan Pehalwan,...