Delhi Police Detain 12 Journalists Covering Protests Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Delhi Police on Sunday detained at least 12 journalists covering the second day of protests in New Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Those detained included a reporter from Hindustan, a sister publication of Hindustan Times.

Hindustan Reporter Describes Detention

Hindustan reporter Ashish Singh, 27, said he was detained around 2.30 pm from RK Ashram Marg, where he was covering a protest called by the All India Students Association (AISA). He alleged that police personnel pushed him around and injured him despite his press identity card clearly identifying him as a journalist.

“I was recording the detentions on my camera when I felt police pushing me. They also hurt me with some sort of pointed thing, maybe like a knuckle. I turned and told them not once but many times that I’m a HT reporter and I was also wearing my ID card, which I showed them. But they didn’t listen to me,” he said.

Singh said he was subsequently pushed onto a bus along with a photojournalist.

“I was far from protesters and not even obstructing police in their duty, but they still misbehaved with me,” he said.

Singh remained on the bus for around 20–30 minutes before it reached the Mandir Marg area, where he and the other journalist jumped off.

“I was scared that the police would snatch our phones and delete all the media,” he said.

Photojournalist Says Memory Card Was Hidden

A photojournalist working for a national news agency, who did not wish to be identified, said they were taking photographs of people being detained when police personnel intervened.

“They were removing pedestrians” and “detaining journalists,” the photojournalist said.

“They suddenly shouted ‘take him inside’ and they pushed me as well…. I had to hide the memory card as I was scared they would snatch my belongings and delete all media,” they said.

Three reporters from The Indian Express Hindi, one journalist from The Hindu, and camera operators from digital news platforms were among the other journalists detained.

The Delhi Police public relations officer declined to comment on the detentions.

Also read: Bleeding Protesters, Detained Journalists: New Delhi Sees Fresh Chaos Despite SC Order

Indian Express Journalists Released After 45 Minutes

In a post on X, The Indian Express identified its detained journalists as Shashwat, Siya and Vijay. The newspaper said they were picked up from Connaught Place and taken to Chhatrasal Stadium.

The three journalists were released after nearly 45 minutes, around 12 km from where they had been detained.

The Hindu Reporter Briefly Detained

Between 6 pm and 7 pm, a journalist from The Hindu was also briefly detained after being pushed onto a police bus. She was released after insisting that she was a reporter.

“I was recording myself when police personnel came and started asking me what are you doing…They just detained me. How can they detain the press?” she said in Connaught Place.