The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Sunday urged Delhi Police to refrain from targeting journalists covering protests in the capital and honour the government’s assurance to the Supreme Court that media personnel would not be impeded in performing their duties.
Yet, in the current instance, agitators complain that police continue to pick them up even while walking or standing peacefully, or beyond the jurisdiction of the New Delhi district, where the original orders were issued. “Covering events of public interest is not a crime. It is their job.
Authorities imposed curbs without precedent in Delhi, ordering the gates of 45 metro stations to be shut, cutting mobile internet across central Delhi, cancelling trains into the city, deploying more than 40,000 Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel, and installing barricades and spike strips ahead of the protest. Nearly 4,000 people were detained on Saturday, including former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and AISA’s Neha Bora, the police said. For example, in two landmark orders in 2012 and 2018, the Supreme Court warned against wide and arbitrary prohibitory orders and blanket denial of permission to protests.
“At least six journalists, including those from mainstream news organisations such as The Indian Express and Hindustan Times, were temporarily detained by Delhi Police,” CPJ said in a post on X. “CPJ calls on Delhi Police to honour the government’s assurance to the Supreme Court that journalists will not be impeded in their professional duties and to refrain from targeting journalists covering the protests,” it added. The continuing detentions across Delhi — hours after the Supreme Court ordered that peaceful, unarmed protesters cannot be detained except in accordance with the “procedure established by law” — came against the background of similar instances in the past where authorities used vague language or procedural issues to effectively bypass judicial orders. The police’s actions against the press are unacceptable,” the organisation said.
