Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

Delhi Police on Sunday detained at least 12 journalists — including a reporter from Hindustan, a Hindustan Times sister publication — who were covering the second day of protests in New Delhi against the chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Hindustan reporter describes being detained
Hindustan reporter Ashish Singh, 27, said he was detained from RK Ashram Marg, where he was covering the protest called by the All India Students Association (AISA) around 2.30pm. He said was pushed around and injured, despite wearing an ID which clearly identified him as a member of the press.

“I was recording the detentions on my camera when I felt police pushing me. They also hurt me with some sort of pointed thing, maybe like a knuckle. I turned and told them not once but many times that I’m a HT reporter and I was also wearing my ID card, which I showed them. But they didn’t listen to me,” he said.

He was soon pushed onto the bus with a photojournalist. “I was far from protesters and not even obstructing police in their duty, but they still misbehaved with me.”