New Delhi, October 12, 2026 — More than three dozen journalists were temporarily detained, and in some cases assaulted
,
while they were covering protests against the country’s chief election commissioner over allegations of voter-list manipulation in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Pune on October 10 and 11.
In New Delhi, where the
main protests
broke out, at least 35 journalists were detained over the course of the next two days, according to CPJ’s review of news reports, direct interviews, and verified social media posts by editors, journalists, and their newsrooms. Two more journalists were detained while
covering solidarity protests
in other cities on October 10, including Alt News correspondent Kinjal in Ahmedabad and Scroll’s Divya Aslesha in Pune.
Police
continued detaining journalists
even after 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. The court, which is due to hear the matter again on October 13, also directed that no one be detained except by procedure established by law.
“CPJ’s research shows that, on October 10 and 11, Indian police detained at least 37 journalists while they were covering protests against the chief election commissioner — with several also being assaulted, heckled, or obstructed in their work,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s Asia-Pacific program coordinator. “These incidents are deeply troubling and a blot on India’s democratic traditions. They violate international standards on press freedom and journalists’ constitutional rights, and also contradict the government’s assurance to the Supreme Court that journalists would not be impeded in their work. As the world’s largest democracy, India has a special responsibility to uphold press freedom, protect journalists from interference, and hold police officers accountable for assaulting or obstructing them.”
The protests were called
… [more]
