Arrests – Journalists

Journalist Mandeep Punia, who was arrested by the police from the farmers’ protest on the outskirts of Delhi and released on bail Tuesday, has said he is undeterred by the brutal treatment in custody and will go back to report on “people persecuted by those in power”. An NDTV interview of the journalist on Thursday collected more than a million views in 24 hours on YouTube, demonstrating the popularity of Mr Punia, who walked out of jail having scribbled “notes” on his body to write a story on those he met inside.

The 43-year-old independent journalist who contributes to The Caravan magazine among others, detailed how he was arrested on Saturday, beaten up and falsely accused of assaulting police officers and obstructing them. “I was standing next to the barricades at the farmers’ protest camp in Singhu. I was recording a video for my report. Some migrant workers were trying to pass but the policemen were constantly abusing them. So, I was recording the problems that the migrant workers were facing,” he said.

That’s when, he said, the police first pulled another journalist Dharmendra Singh standing next to him. “When I protested, one of them shouted ‘This is Mandeep Punia. Take him too’. They kept hitting me with sticks and abused me,” he said.