PRESS FREEDOM UNDER PRESSURE IN THE CAPITAL: JOURNALISTS ALLEGE ASSAULTS, THREATS AND ATTEMPTS TO ERASE EVIDENCE OF DETENTION

October 14, 2026

Journalists covering protests in New Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar have accused Delhi Police of harassment, physical assault, intimidation and attempts to force reporters to delete footage documenting their detention. The allegations have intensified concerns over press freedom and the safety of journalists covering politically sensitive demonstrations, prompting the Press Club of India to organise a silent protest march on Tuesday against attacks on media professionals.

Several reporters who were detained while covering the demonstrations came forward to describe their experiences, alleging that police personnel prevented them from establishing their professional identity, handled them roughly and questioned their right to document events. The journalists warned that the incidents reflected a troubling pattern in which law-enforcement personnel appeared to determine who could be recognised as a journalist and who could continue reporting.

Among those who spoke publicly was Astha, a journalist with Newslaundry, who recounted being detained alongside her colleague Anmol Pritam while covering the protests. She alleged that a man inside the police bus in which she had been placed touched her inappropriately. When she resisted and shouted, she said, the man fled and was not seen inside the vehicle again. Her account raised questions about the safety of women journalists and other detainees inside police transport vehicles.

The incident was discussed at a meeting organised by the Press Club of India, where journalists shared accounts of their treatment during the police operation. Press Club president Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty said the gathering was intended to document conduct that should not occur in a democracy. She expressed particular concern over reports that journalists had been asked to produce Press Information Bureau (PIB) accreditation cards while covering the protests.

Pisharoty questioned why police should decide who qualifies as a journalist based on the production of a particular government-issued credential. She noted that PIB cards are commonly associated with access to government ministries, raising concerns about their use as a condition for recognising journalists reporting from public demonstrations.

Ryan Thomas, a journalist with The Caravan, described being detained while filming the detention of another person near Connaught Place on October 11. He said he had requested that officers let him go, but alleged that one policeman responded by telling him not to consider himself equal to the officer. Thomas further alleged that the officer slapped and punched him after learning his name and called on other personnel to bring out a rifle, saying that only such force would work against him.

His account added to concerns about the treatment of reporters documenting police operations. Thomas had been filming a detention when he was picked up, raising questions about whether journalists were being obstructed simply for recording law-enforcement activity in a public place.

BBC journalist Dilnawaz Pasha, who had been heckled by right-wing social media influencers while covering the protests, thanked friends and colleagues who had supported him. He also expressed concern for independent journalists who might not have comparable professional networks or institutional backing when facing intimidation or harassment in the field.

Shoaib Daniyal, a journalist with Scroll, said he was detained by police at a location approximately 20 kilometres from Lutyens’ Delhi. According to his account, officers kept him on a bus for around an hour, threatened and heckled him, and attempted to make him delete videos documenting his detention. Daniyal said he refused to remove the footage.

The accounts emerged after dozens of journalists were detained over several days while reporting on demonstrations demanding Kumar’s resignation. The protests were linked to opposition allegations of irregularities in the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The CJP and supporting organisations have called for accountability from the poll panel, while the authorities have defended their security restrictions on public-order grounds.

The Press Club of India’s silent march represented a collective response to the allegations, highlighting the importance of allowing journalists to report without intimidation, physical interference or pressure to destroy material gathered in the course of their work.

The accounts presented by the journalists remain allegations concerning specific encounters and require appropriate examination. However, their common concern was that reporting on public demonstrations had become increasingly difficult when officers challenged their identity, detained them while they were filming or allegedly sought to interfere with recorded material.

The episode has brought the safety of journalists, the protection of reporting material and the limits of police authority into sharper focus. As the political dispute over electoral transparency continues, the journalists’ accounts have added a separate and significant dimension to the controversy: whether reporters can perform their professional duties in public spaces without fear of assault, arbitrary detention or coercion.