RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
10/13/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/14/2026 09:48
Unprecedented police crackdown on the press in India: around 40 journalists covering protests against the electoral roll revision detained
Around 40 journalists covering protests in New Delhi and other Indian cities against the controversial electoral roll revision were detained by the police for several hours on 10 and 11 October. Some were brutalised, whilst others had their mobile phones seized or their equipment smashed. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this intolerable crackdown on press freedom and calls on the Indian authorities to put an end to obstructions hindering the free practice of journalism during social movements.
In a series of brutal arrests that took place throughout the weekend, journalists were detained, forcibly removed, shoved onto buses, dragged along the ground and beaten. As the press attempted to cover the demonstrations on 10 and 11 October against the controversial revision of the electoral roll, the weekend saw an unprecedented escalation in repression by the police, with around 40 media professionals arrested in two days, mainly in the capital. The Delhi police had banned the demonstration, closed dozens of metro stations, cancelled trains and cut off the internet within a four-kilometre (2.5-mile) radius.
Several journalists reported that their equipment - mobile phones, cameras, memory cards - had been confiscated, damaged or even destroyed, or that their footage had been deleted. Yet almost all of them were clearly identifiable as media, notably by prominently displaying their press badges and filming equipment, and by identifying themselves as such to the police. Reporter Jagriti Trisha from the online news outlet Boom Live, told RSF that police officers snatched her mobile phone whilst she was filming the arrest of protesters who were being taken away on a bus. "I was then forced onto that same bus. I repeatedly said that I worked for the media and was wearing a press pass round my neck. Despite this, I was stuck on the bus that drove round in circles for nearly three hours. We were then taken to the Yamuna Sports Complex, which was apparently being used as a detention centre." She was finally allowed to leave after lawyers present at the scene intervened.
Journalist Vivek Gupta recounts in an article for the online news outlet The News Minute how he was filming the brutal arrest of a female protester when the police confiscated his filming equipment, even though he had identified himself as a journalist. He was then taken to Zafarabad police station, 50 kilometres (31 miles) away. His camera was eventually returned to him, broken and without a battery or memory card. Reporter Ryan Thomas from The Caravan magazine, also recounts in The News Minute how he was beaten, humiliated and threatened with the butt of a gun whilst being forcibly taken onto a bus: "They pulled out the gun and started hitting me in the stomach with it. They were also hitting me with batons. They carried on hitting and shoving me for a while."
Journalists also reported that the Delhi police had prevented them from leaving their hotel rooms. Some were arrested whilst attempting to make their way to the protest sites, several kilometres away.
In the days leading up to the protests, the Delhi police issued a series of controversial guidelines requiring reporters to display their press cards. However, the police largely ignored the press credentials, arresting journalists who displayed their press cards as instructed and identified themselves as media. Some of the arrests also defied a Supreme Court order dated 11 October, declaring that journalists must not be hindered in the performance of their duties. These incidents are part of a wider trend of restrictions imposed on protest coverage in recent months.
"Around 40 journalists were arrested in the space of two days. Some report having been brutally detained, beaten, humiliated, dragged along the ground, having their clothes torn, or having their cameras broken or confiscated by the police. RSF condemns a crackdown of unprecedented scale, with extremely worrying attacks on press freedom in the so-called 'world's greatest democracy'. These unacceptable actions against reporters who are simply doing their job cast a harsh light on the authoritarian drift of a government that is attempting to stifle information by any means necessary. The Indian authorities must respect the free practice of journalism and citizens' right to information. RSF calls on them to return all seized equipment as a matter of urgency, to compensate for any equipment destroyed, and to ensure that journalists can cover the protests freely and safely. The organisation also calls for an independent investigation into the arbitrary arrests and acts of violence committed against journalists by the police.
Celia Mercier
Head of RSF's South Asia Office
RSF records cases where journalists have been temporarily detained:
10 october 2026
Delhi
Amaan Rastogi - Molitics
Ankit Salvi - Independent Journalist
Anmol Pritam - Newslaundry
Anshu Gupta - Newslaundry
Ashwine Kumar Singh - Newslaundry
Astha Savyasachi - Newslaundry
Anushka Bhardwaj - Business Standard
Ayush Tiwari - Scroll
Harsh Yadav - Independent Journalist
Hritik Joshi - Navbharat Times
Jagriti Trisha - BOOM Live
Mohammed Aslam Hussain - The Siasat Daily
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta - Independent Journalist
Rahul Charas - Navbharat Times
Ravi Raj - Independent Journalist
Sarthak Jaiswal - The Quint
Saurabh Sharma - Reuters
Shaptadeep Saha - News Ei Samay
Shivang Shukla - MO / India Today
Shoaib Daniyal - Scroll
Vivek Gupta - No Noise Stories
Ahmedabad
Kinjal - Alt News
Pune
Divya Aslesha - Scroll
11 october 2026
Delhi
Ashish Singh - Hindustan Times
M. Rajshekhar - Independent Journalist
Navkiran Natt - Trolley Times
Nidhi Suresh - The News Minute
Nitin Katiyar - Nayab World
Pragya Mishra - Bharat Samachar
Ryan Thomas - The Caravan
Sajin A - Asianet News
Sara Khan - Peek TV
Shashwat - The Indian Express (hindi)
Shyam Meera Singh - Independent Journalist
Siya - The Indian Express (hindi)
Suhail Mohammad - 24 News Malayalam
V.S. Rahul - 24 News Malayalam
Vedanta Agarwal - Peek TV
Vijay Kumar - The Indian Express (hindi)
Mumbai
Mohit Manwani - The Quint
Swati Chopra - The Quint
Published on 13.10.2026
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