Press Club condemns detention of journalists covering Delhi protest

The Press Club of India has condemned the detention of two journalists who were covering a protest in New Delhi demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The journalists, Frontline’s Vedaant Lakhera and The Wire’s Mohammad Irfan, were detained while reporting on a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on September 25, according to a Press Club statement issued the following day. The organisation said both men were wearing press identification.

It said Lakhera was detained while asking police officers why they were not wearing name tags, taken to Parliament Street police station and told to delete a photograph. The Press Club said he did not delete it before being released. Irfan was taken to a police station in Dwarka and detained for several hours with protesters before being released, the organisation said.

It also alleged that a police officer took a microphone bearing his organisation’s logo and discarded it, after which it could not be found. Press Club president Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty and secretary-general Afzal Imam said the incident was particularly concerning because the Delhi Police is controlled directly by the Union Home Ministry. The supplied report does not include a response from Delhi Police.

In a separate statement, the Press Club criticised a West Bengal Police FIR involving Maktoob Media over reporting about alleged exclusion of Muslim IAS and IPS officers from meetings during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visits to the state. The Press Club said there had been no official denial of the report but that police had filed the FIR. It said Maktoob learned of the case through a communication from X and that police had sought account and device information from the platform.

The FIR was filed against “UnknownPerson1”, while its contents referred to Maktoob’s social-media posts, the Press Club said. It described the action as part of a wider attempt to restrict independent journalism.