At least 43 journalists detained covering protests against Gyanesh Kumar
Covering protests just got a lot riskier for journalists in India. At least 43 journalists were detained, and some even assaulted, while reporting on demonstrations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
These protests, sparked by claims of voter list tampering, took place in Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Pune on October 10 and 11.
Even though Supreme Court justices won assurances from Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta on October 11 that "lawyers, journalists, and other professionals would not be impeded in their professional duties," many journalists had their equipment seized or damaged.
Detentions spread beyond New Delhi
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), most detentions happened in New Delhi, but similar stories came from other cities too, like Alt News's correspondent Kinjal in Ahmedabad and Scroll's Divya Aslesha in Pune.
In Mumbai, The Quint's Swati Chopra and Mohit Manwani were also held during related protests.