New Delhi:
A three-month pregnant journalist has alleged that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi pushed and pulled her hand aggressively on the Supreme Court premises yesterday during the Opposition protest over the SIR exercise. The Congress has denied such an incident had ever happened, and called it a propaganda cooked up by the BJP.
Richa Parashar of the news website Oneindia, who alleged the assault, has been admitted to a hospital in the national capital. She told NDTV that she was extremely upset over Rahul Gandhi's supporters "badmouthing her" and trying to downplay what she went through.
"This is not about Congress or BJP. I am just a common citizen doing my job. Very unfortunate some of the things people are saying," she told NDTV.
At the hospital bed, surrounded by BJP leaders who went to ask about her condition, she alleged on camera that Rahul Gandhi "grabbed" her hand and "yanked" it so hard that she fell on the ground with her knees and stomach hitting the hard surface.
Journalist Richa Parashar in hospital
She also alleged the Congress MP pushed her cameraman, who fell on top of her followed by four-five others, amid the chaos of the protest by the Opposition bloc INDIA seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
"I was inside the Supreme Court premises, positioned right by a gate, waiting for him to exit so I could get a soundbite, specifically from Rahul Gandhi... I extended the mic; he gestured for me to move it away, so I did. But then I saw other mics being thrust forward, and since it was my job - I was on assignment - I moved my mic back in," Parashar said from her hospital bed.
"Before I could fully process what was happening - my cameraperson was behind me - Rahul Gandhi moved forward with a very unpleasant expression. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand - right here - and yanked me forward. He pulled me so hard, and then - it all happened so fast - his bodyguards shoved me away. You know the Supreme Court entrance has a few steps - two or three, I couldn't count exactly due to the crowd, and I fell face-first onto them," Parashar, who said she is three-months pregnant, told the visitors in the hospital room.
She posted a video of the incident, which Congress leaders and supporters pointed out did not clearly showed what she claimed had happened.
Congress leader Alka Lamba in a post on X refuted the journalist's allegations, citing what she claimed were inconsistencies in the sequence of events, and called the BJP "shameless".
"Protest during pregnancy carries risk. They say Rahul Gandhi pushed her at 3-4 pm and then they say she went to hospital at 8.30 pm. Her sister reached the BJP MLA's office to manufacture propaganda. She underwent an X-ray which is usually not done during pregnancy," Lamba said in the post on X.
Other Congress leaders and supporters shared videos of the moment Rahul Gandhi was surrounded by journalists and the chaos that followed. They pointed out that none of the visuals clearly showed the Congress leader had ever pushed the pregnant journalist.
कुछ तो शर्म करो अंधभक्तों- एक्स-रे और पोस्टमार्टम की ज़रूरत तो भाजपिल्लों तुम को है - 1st: Protest during pregnancy carries risk. 2nd: They say Rahul Gandhi pushed her at 3-4 PM & then say she went to hospital at 8:30 PM. 3rd: Her sister reached BJP MLA's office to manufacture propaganda. 4th: She underwent "X-ray" which is usually not done during pregnancy.
— Alka Lamba 🇮🇳 (@LambaAlka) October 13, 2026
Parashar, however, insisted there was indeed a video taken amid the chaos where it was clearly visible that Rahul Gandhi had pulled her hand.
"Rahul Gandhi grabbed me first... and since my cameraperson was recording, he immediately shoved him as well... I fell on my knees and stomach and my cameraperson fell on top of me. My phone is completely shattered now and my mic receiver got completely dislodged," the journalist said from the hospital room.
She said her voice could be heard in the recording. "I spoke to him very politely, and I find it hard to believe - he is the Leader of the Opposition after all... when it happened I felt like I wouldn't be able to breathe anymore," Parashar said.
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that not a single Congress worker offered to help the pregnant journalist and instead they tried to "cast aspersions" on her.
"Rahul Gandhi, who speaks of 'smashing the patriarchy,' behaved like a goon. The women of this country should see the true face of the Congress party and the reality behind Priyanka Vadra's slogan of 'ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon'," Bhandari, who along with other party leaders went to the hospital to meet the journalist, told reporters this morning.
"Rahul Gandhi Pushed me down" Rahul Gandhi now pushes a female journalist! Rahul Gandhi's behavior are dangerous for Indian Democracy! He pushes journalist, beats his workers with elbow punch, pushes his own Chief Minister. Rahul Gandhi is behaving like a goon! https://t.co/9GtJ36LDHO
— Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी)🇮🇳 (@pradip103) October 12, 2026
After the day-long protest against the chief election commissioner led by the INDIA bloc ended yesterday evening, Rahul Gandhi thanked people who joined him and called the day "a powerful demonstration that the people of India will not be intimidated."
In parallel, the satirical political group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been using guerilla tactics to hold sporadic protests amid tight security in the national capital where at least 20,000 paramilitary personnel have been deployed.
The INDIA bloc yesterday changed its protest strategy from only going after Gyanesh Singh to a wider "democratic protest" in order to draw supporters from across sections and different age groups.