Two journalists have said they were detained and roughed up by Delhi Police on Friday, September 25, while covering a protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
One reporter alleged that his microphone was snatched and damaged during the incident, while the other said an officer forced him away from the protest site and demanded he delete his photographs.
The protest was organised by activists and civil society groups, including the All India Students’ Association, following investigative reports by The Indian Express on how the Election Commission has been handling the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Mohammad Irfan, who was reporting for The Wire and is also known as a YouTuber, said in a video that it was his first time covering an event as a reporter. He said he had simply gone to report honestly, and described being pushed into a police vehicle while repeatedly shouting for his microphone. He also accused the police of only tolerating outlets that flatter the government while silencing those that report impartially.
Irfan said he was trying to film activists Yogendra Yadav and Dipankar Bhattacharya of the CPI(ML) Liberation when police approached and detained him, even though he had valid press identification. He said four to five officers dragged him onto a police bus. The Wire later said on social media that its reporter had been taken into custody while on duty, and that his microphone, carrying the organisation’s logo, had been thrown aside. The publication asked Delhi Police to clarify why the detentions took place and where the protesters had been taken.
Frontline magazine’s senior reporter Vedaant Lakhera was also detained during the same protest. He said an officer without a visible name tag pushed and shoved him away from the site. When he asked the officer for his name and badge number, as required under existing guidelines, the officer refused, so Lakhera tried to photograph him instead. He said he and several others were then forcibly dragged toward Parliament Street, where police asked him to delete the picture, which he refused to do. Officers then photographed him instead. Lakhera said he was eventually released once a group of independent journalists gathered around him.
The Press Club of India expressed concern over the incident on Saturday and called on Delhi Police to apologise to the two journalists. The club noted that both reporters were wearing their press identification at the time they were detained, and pointed out that Lakhera had been detained precisely while questioning officers about their missing name tags. It said Irfan was held for hours along with the protesters before being released, and that his microphone had been snatched by police, while Lakhera was taken to the Parliament Street police station and told to delete a photograph before he was let go.
The organisation also said other journalists present at the protest described the police as behaving in an aggressive and high-handed manner, with some reporters saying they were hurt in the scuffle that broke out as protesters were detained. Calling the incident a matter of grave concern given that Delhi Police functions under the Union Home Ministry, the Press Club said journalists must be able to work safely and document those questioning the government. It urged the police to apologise to the journalists whose work was disrupted and equipment damaged, and to avoid such conduct going forward.
