Journalists covering protests in New Delhi faced detainment by police during their reporting duties
NEW DELHI: On a day SC said lawyers, journalists and other professionals should not be impeded from carrying out their professional duties, several journalists covering the protests were detained for a second day running Sunday.Among those detained were those working for established media organisations as well as independent online portals.A photojournalist, who works for a news agency, told TOI: “I was covering the AISA protest at RK Ashram when police started dispersing everyone in the area. When only mediapersons remained, they started to drag us by our necks into police vans even after we displayed our IDs, our cameras and shouted that we were from the press.The van had 7-8 journalists when they shut the doors and started moving. After a few kilometres, the van had to stop as police were removing barricades to make way. That was when I and two other journalists jumped out.”Nitin Katiyar, a digital journalist with Nayab World, was detained from the Connaught Place roundabout while covering the students’ march. Showing cuts below his right eye, Katiyar said that police detained him despite his showing “valid media credentials”.
He alleged he was pushed inside the bus, where police allegedly punched him in the eyes when he protested.Among those detained were three Indian Express Hindi journalists. The organisation said in a post on X: “Three journalists from Indian Express Hindi — Shashwat, Siya, and Vijay — have been detained by Delhi Police while reporting. Even after informing the police that they were journalists who had come to do their job, they were forcibly put into a bus.
The police bus was passing through Connaught Place in Delhi when Shashwat sent us a video he recorded on his mobile camera.
Our colleague Siya’s phone has been seized by the police.”The three were later let go at Chhatrasal Stadium, the media organisation said.Pragya Mishra, an Uttar Pradesh-based journalist with Bharat Samachar, was also detained while she was covering the protests Saturday. On X, she posted a video of 5-6 policewomen grabbing her arms and legs while detaining her.“Take people into custody. Make them sit in police stations. 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 agenda. I have a mic, the 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...” she posted on X. A journalist working with The Hindu was also detained in the evening.
Several YouTubers and content creators were detained throughout the day from different protest spots, including RK Ashram, Connaught Place and near Jantar Mantar.There was no response from police over the issue till the time of going to press.