A day after Navbharat Times assistant editor Poonam Pandey said she was detained while covering a Congress protest on women’s quota in Delhi, the Press Club of India has sought a judicial inquiry.
In a statement on Tuesday, the club demanded disciplinary action against “personnel involved and strictures to security personnel to pre-empt any instances of high-handedness against journalists in the future”. Several journalists also posted messages in solidarity with Pandey.
कल ड्यूटी मिस्टर दौरान हमारे संस्थान की रिपोर्टर @pandeypoonam20 को दिल्ली पुलिस ने प्रोटेस्ट करने वालों के साथ डीटेन कर लिया। कई घंटे तक फ़ोन भी रख लिया। रिपोर्टिंग के दौरान इस तरह की अंकुश ग़लत है। दोषी पर एक्शन हो https://t.co/ERBNwNqM9u
— Narendra Nath Mishra (@iamnarendranath) July 30, 2024
The Press Club of India said that Pandey, who was returning from South Block to her office, had stopped en route to cover a demonstration by Mahila Congress workers demanding women’s reservation near Kartavya Path. “However, she was physically prevented by police personnel controlling the demonstrators from filming the protests and later rounded up along with the demonstrators despite proving her identity as a journalist and showing her Identity card.”
An article in Navbharat Times had detailed the incident on Monday.
“The policemen stopped her from making the video and started putting a black cloth in front of her phone. She protested and said that you cannot stop the media from covering the protest like this. She also showed her media ID card. Even after that, they kept stopping her and then tried to snatch her phone, which she protested against. No woman police personnel was seen there but there were women CRPF soldiers. They forcefully snatched her phone from her and despite her continuous protest and telling them that she was from the media, they put her in the bus with the protesters. From the bus too, she kept saying that you cannot detain a reporter like this and kept showing her ID card. But the bus closed the gate and moved ahead,” it read.
आज प्रोटेस्ट कवर करने पर पुलिस ने @MahilaCongress की प्रदर्शनकारियों के साथ मुझे भी हिरासत में ले लिया। लगातार यह बताने के बाबजूद कि मैं मीडिया से हूं और मीडिया आईकार्ड दिखाने के बावजूद...
— Poonam Pandey (@pandeypoonam20) July 29, 2024
पुलिसकर्मी मुझे विडियो बनाने से रोक रहे थे। https://t.co/OWLvKApYTB
The Press Club of India said that journalism is not a crime “but silencing journalists is certainly a crime against democracy”.
“It is no mere coincidence that this happened a stone’s throw away from the seat of power and the Parliament House. The act smacks of an attitude towards a free press characteristic of the current administration. The club management demands an independent judicial inquiry to determine whether security personnel have been instructed to target and intimate journalists covering events that might cause discomfort to those in power.”
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