'Don't have PIB card? You're no reporter'

The national capital has erupted with protests In an unprecedented move the Delhi Police detained over 7000 protestors in a single day on October 10 Reporters Without Borders reported that at least 43 journalists have been detained between October 10 and 11 Out of the 43 at least 25 belonged to independent media houses or were freelance journalists Notably some claim that their phones were seized while others allege assaultldquoMore than independent journalists it felt like they wanted to detain anyone with a phonerdquo says Ayush Tiwari from The Scroll who was detained on October 10 while he was reporting in New DelhiSwati Chopra from The Quint was detained on October 11 from Shivaji Park PICSHADAB KHANThe last time protests had taken over Jantar Mantar in July over exam paper leaks no one had expected it to reach the scale it did On July 27 Sunday midday covered the crucial role of citizen journalists who stepped on the ground with nothing but a phone in hand and the Internet as their platform of choice to cover what progovernment media wouldnrsquot show themThis time around for ldquoJantar Mantar 20rdquo mdash as protestors demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls mdash therersquos a very clear precedent for just how much a smallbutmighty phone can captureAstha Savyasachi and Ayush TiwarildquoThis is absolutely unprecedented I havenrsquot heard of detention of journalists at this scale everrdquo says Anuj Nakade lawyer and independent journalistThe largescale crackdown on journalists has also drawn condemnation from international human rights bodies including the United Nations Human Rights Commission and global media watchdog Committee to Protect JournalistsOn October 11 Swati Chopra reached Shivaji Park Dadar around 3 pm to cover Mumbairsquos antiCEC protests alongside cameraperson Mohit Manwani Chopra is the Mumbai editor at The Quint an independent news platform and has been a reporter for 19 yearsSreenivasan JainSlowly she made her way through the crowd until she was in the thick of it ldquoI was bang in the centre with the protestors There was a girl who had just been pushed into the bus and she was falling She wanted to come out and I just gave her my hand Thatrsquos when a policeman yelled at me lsquoHaath kyu pakda Whyrsquod you hold her hand You were trying to get her outrsquordquoldquoThe cop started pushing me into the bus I told them that I am from the press and they cannot detain me They asked me for my badge and I showed it to them They paid no heed A senior cop said lsquoLeke jao isko Take herrsquordquo Chopra recallsChopra and her cameraperson Manwani were pushed into the bus against their will ldquoThere were men all around me literally pushed against my body because there was no space I had to give inrdquo she saysThe duo were taken to Tardeo police station ldquoeven though Dadar police station was right thererdquo she says They got to the police station around 530 pm ldquoThey had separate rooms for men and women I wanted to stay with my cameraperson so I chose to sit in the male room They gave us water Around 630 pm they told the ladies that they could leave I continued to stay with my cameraperson We thought maybe if I stay here itrsquoll create pressure for them to release the men toordquoThey were let go around 730 pm ldquoI have just never seen this happen I shoved my press card in their faces and yet they didnrsquot care Me doing my job came in their wayrdquo she saysldquoDetaining journalists who are simply trying to do their job is undemocratic By detaining me and my cameraperson the police prevented us from documenting what was unfolding on the ground We missed out on everything that happened later The press must be able to report without the fear of being detained This is not just an attack on press freedom but also on the publicrsquos right to knowrdquo Chopra saysTiwari who reports for The Scroll was detained on October 10 in Delhi ldquoI heard an officer say lsquoIsko uthaordquo he says ldquoI was very wearing my press ID I showed it to him and he said lsquoAaj kal toh sabhi media se hai Nowadays everyone is from the mediarsquordquo Tiwari saysHe found that there was extra surveillance on ldquophone waalasrdquo ldquoIf they saw someone with heavy equipment or a camera mdash those journalists were fine But as soon as they would see someone recording with a phone the bells would go off Journalists are even being asked for PIB Press Information Bureau cards now which is nonsenserdquoTiwari also observed that reporters who got closer to the police were at higher risk of getting picked up ldquoNow theyrsquore forming chains around detainees when they pick them up so I have no way of capturing it without getting closerdquo he saysldquoNot that this will affect my reporting but the fear has been planted Maybe next time Irsquoll think that I should stand a little further awayrdquoJournalist Astha Savyasachi who works at independent platform Newslaundry along with her colleagues Ashwine Kumar Singh and Anmol Pritam was detained in Delhi last SaturdaySavyasachi says ldquoWhen we went there we simply asked the policemen why they had detained a journalist They started manhandling Ashwine When I intervened three women police personnel came dragged me and shoved me into the bus I fell on the floorrdquoSavyasachi says she was sexually harassed by another detainee on the bus ldquoThere were 2025 men in that bus and there were only three women including police personnel So that also raises a question Who should be held accountable Who is responsiblerdquo she asksWhile Savyasachi had managed to hide her phone her colleagues were not as fortunate She estimates that the detention lasted around twoandahalf hoursSavyasachi also alleges that journalists from legacy media outlets were treated differently at the barricades ldquoI didnrsquot see any legacy media journalists being stopped They were even sometimes allowed to cross the barricades but we werenrsquotrdquo ldquoA policeman on the street is deciding whorsquos a journalist and whorsquos not I think thatrsquos really dangerous for journalismrdquo she addslsquoItrsquos license rajrsquoLawyer and journalist Anuj Nakade explains a journalistrsquos rightsA PIB card is an official press ID issued by the Press Information Bureau to recognised journalists residing in the national capitalrdquo explains lawyer and journalist Anuj Nakade There are a limited number of scribes who get this accreditation Nakade says ldquoItrsquos definitely a sign of arrival for a journalistrdquoAnuj NakadeJournalists allege that the police have been insisting on a PIB card ldquoDelhi Policersquos own advisory clarifies that journalists can wear IDs issued by their organisations andor PIBDIP cardsrdquo he notesGetting a PIB card is no easy task Nakade says ldquoPIBrsquos websitersquos FAQ document prescribes three eligible categories a correspondent with five years of experience freelance journalists with 15 years of experience with a media house and five years of previously holding a PIB card and foreign journalists with five years of experience with a valid J journalist visardquo Nakade explainsldquoOnly the Delhi Police can tell us the intentions behind insisting on PIB cards But the effect is simple freelance journalists are affected the most Not only do they need to have 15 years of experience to get accreditation but also within those five years they must be holding a PIB card for five yearsrdquo he saysThat would mean that for a freelance journalist to possess a PIB card today they would have had to have 15 years working with a media house which would make them at least 37 years oldNakade says that press freedom is protected by Article 191a mdash Freedom of Speech and Expression of the Indian Constitution ldquoJournalists can ask police tough questions They can ask lsquoWhy are you detaining a minorrsquo But they cannot get in the way of the policersquos work Active participation in the protest would make you a protestor But that still doesnrsquot give police the right to detain yourdquo Nakade saysPress body reactsPresident of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists IFWJ Gopal Misra says ldquoIFWJ is awaiting details of 41 journalists being accused in false cases by the police It also reveals why India is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index Earlier India was ranked 140 in 2014 to 159 amongst 180 countries As part of its 76th anniversary celebrations this month IFWJ will draw the countryrsquos attention to the issues related to press freedom and the working conditions of journalists in the countryrdquolsquoIt didnrsquot happenrsquoA senior Mumbai police officer told this paper ldquoNo such incident took place If a journalist was picked up it is possible that the person was not wearing a press ID Whenever detainees are brought into a police van or police station they are asked to establish their identity and provide preliminary information including the reason for their presence at the protest If the person identifies themselves as a journalist they are authorised to be there to cover the eventrdquolsquoIndependent media being targetedrsquoSenior journalist Sreenivasan Jain said in a press conference ldquoThe attempt is to particularly target younger journalists digital media those who are seen as independent and critical of the regime Obviously some sort of instruction has gone out to go hard against that sectionhellip This is part of a systematic attempt to escalate this regimersquos campaign of repression against the pressrdquo