NWMI Condemns Assault and Detention of Journalists Despite Supreme Court Directions
The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) strongly condemns the assault and arbitrary detention of journalists on 10 and 11 October 2026 in New Delhi and Mumbai.
The aggressive behaviour of police personnel towards journalists, and especially the mauling and pushing of women journalists, while they were reporting and had clearly identified themselves as members of the press, is an unprecedented attack on democratic practices.
The development is all the more alarming because the Supreme Court, hearing urgent pleas on the police crackdown, mass detentions, and transit restrictions in connection with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests in the capital, had directed on 11 October that no illegal detentions take place. The Court had also recorded the authorities’ assurance that journalists and other professionals would not be obstructed in their work.
Yet journalists continued to be detained and harassed on the streets of Delhi and Mumbai over the weekend. This indicates a reprehensible disregard for the Court and for press freedom by the authorities.
Journalists were doing their job, reporting on a matter of public interest. Detaining them without cause and physically handling women reporters are attacks on press freedom and on the dignity and safety of women in the profession.
We demand:
- The immediate and unconditional release of all journalists still detained, and the withdrawal of any cases against them.
- No seizure of journalists’ phones, cameras or other devices, and the immediate return of any equipment already seized.
- That no journalist be detained in future while covering protests or any public events, in keeping with the Supreme Court’s directions of 11 October 2026, and the assurance given to the Court that journalists will not be obstructed in their work.
- An independent inquiry into the conduct of the personnel involved, with accountability for those responsible.
- Full compliance with directive (f) of the Supreme Court’s order issued on 11 October 2026: “Lawyers, journalists and other professionals shall not be hindered in discharge of their professional duties in any manner whatsoever.”
Journalists, especially women, must be enabled to report without intimidation or harm. A free press cannot function under threat. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues.
The Network of Women in Media, India
12 October 2026
