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Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

Delhi Police detained three Indian Express Hindi journalists at Connaught Place on Sunday while they were reporting the developments of the second day of protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Journalists Shashwat, Siya and Vijay Kumar, displayed their valid press cards, but were taken into detention and forced into buses by police personnel.

They were later released at Chhatrasal Stadium after around 45 minutes and nearly 12 kilometres away. The latest protests are against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The police did not cite any specific legal provision or reason for detaining the journalists. The incident comes amid a wider crackdown on protesters in the national capital, where police detained around 7,000 people on October 10, including journalists, lawyers and civil society members.

Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

Dhanya Rajendran, Editor-in-chief of thenewsminute, shared how “Our colleague @NidhiSuresh_ was detained around 3 pm. She was taken in the same van as @neha_aisa. M The cops told the women they could leave around 6.30 pm, but the women are there demanding the men be released too”

Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

Hindustan Times journalist Hemani Bhandari shared how The Hindu’s journalist was detailed by Delhi Police.

“The Hindu’s journalist was detained from Connaught Place till police personnel realised she was a reporter with TH and released her before the bus moved.”

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.”

Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

TV reporter Pragya Mishra shared how Delhi police detained her in a humiliating manner “हिरासत में लो..थाने में बिठाओ..जो सच दिखा रहे हैं..उनको रोको..लोकतंत्र के चीरहरण की तस्वीरें बाहर मत जाने दो..दिल्ली पुलिस इसी एजेंडे पर काम कर रही है…मेरे पास माइक है..माइक आईडी है…सब कुछ है लेकिन बेहद अपमानजनक तरीके से दिल्ली पुलिस ने जानबूझकर मुझे बस के भीतर फेंक दिया..और डिटेन कर लिया..ये देश की राजधानी दिल्ली है…अंधेर नगरी.. अंधी पुलिस और चौपट राजा…” (Translated by X as “Take them into custody..Seat them in the police station..Stop those who are showing the truth..Don’t let the pictures of the rape of democracy go out..Delhi Police is working on this very agenda…I have a mic..Mic ID is there…I have everything but in an extremely humiliating manner, Delhi Police deliberately threw me inside the bus..and detained me..This is the capital of the country, Delhi…City of darkness..Blind police and ruined king…”

Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

The Delhi Police detained at least 11 journalists covering protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the second consecutive day on Sunday.

Three journalists from The Indian Express Hindi, one from The Caravan, two from Peek TV and at least three journalists working with Malayalam news channels, including Reporter TV, 24 News and Asianet News, were also detained.

Journalist and content creator Shyam Meera Singh was also detained. His account on social media platform X was withheld in India on Sunday. It remained restricted, as of 1.15 pm on Monday.

The Indian Express reported that its journalists Shashwat, Siya and Vijay were detained while reporting from Connaught Place. They were taken to Chhatrasal Stadium and later released, the newspaper reported.

Lawfare, Detention: Journalists

Journalist Sreenivasan Jain tweeted “at least six more journalists detained, shoved into a van by Delhi Police as they were asking the cops about the detention of a journalist moments ago at the same location. As I question the police, one of them tells me: ‘this is not the right time to ask anything’.” He added “one of them identified himself as a reporter from the Hindustan Times. At least three others are from Kerala, from Reporter TV and 24 News.”

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.