Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

The Delhi Police detained and brutally beat up The Caravan’s assistant multimedia producer, Ryan Thomas, on 11 October. Ryan was covering the protests against Gyanesh Kumar and SIR, which the government has tried to quash with an unprecedented police mobilisation in the capital, with multiple trains and metros halted, and with internet shut down across central Delhi. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had directed that, among other things, journalists “shall not be hindered in discharge of their professional duties in any manner whatsoever.”

Around 6 pm, on Janpath Road, as the police were detaining protesters, Ryan started following and recording a video of a group of policemen taking an individual to a detention bus parked nearby. One of them, Assistant Sub-Inspector Kapil Kumar—who was, unlike the others, wearing a name tag—turned and asked Ryan, “Tum kya kar rahe ho yeh”—what are you doing? Suddenly, three cops rushed towards Ryan and began manhandling and hitting him, while dragging him to the detention bus. Ryan repeatedly told them he is a journalist, and his press card was hanging from his neck via a lanyard and visibly displayed.

Inside the bus, five police (two more had come into the bus by then) hit Ryan on the head multiple times and tried to snatch his phone. They tried to force him to delete the images he had recorded. When he refused, stating that he was willing to cooperate with them but would not give up his phone or camera, they intensified the beating. They tried to break his camera and goaded him. One of them said, “Camera se zyada deshbhakti aa raha hai logon main aajkal”—people are feeling a bit too much nationalism because of cameras these days.