At least two journalists covering a protest against the Election Commission of India at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Friday alleged that they were forcibly detained and manhandled by Delhi Police personnel.

One reporter said his microphone was snatched and broken and another alleged that a policeman dragged him away from the protest site and asked him to delete photographs.

Civil society groups and activists organised the protest, and the All India Students’ Association joined it. It followed a series of controversies surrounding the Election Commission’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and revelations in an Indian Express investigation published on September 23.

Popular YouTuber Mohammad Irfan, who was covering the protest for The Wire, told Newslaundry that he was trying to record soundbites from activist Yogendra Yadav and CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya when police personnel attempted to detain him.

According to Irfan, four or five police personnel dragged him onto a bus despite him carrying a press identification card. He said the police personnel appeared to have mistaken him for a protester.

“There were four or five police personnel. They dragged me onto the bus. I kept shouting, ‘My mic, my mic.’ During the scuffle, my microphone broke. I don’t remember the faces of the police personnel, but the incident might have been recorded on camera,” he said.

Irfan said a fellow journalist later picked up his press ID and handed it back to him. He said his phone was with his brother, who was at The Wire office.

In a post on X, The Wire said: “While reporting for The Wire at Jantar Mantar, Irfan was taken into custody by the Delhi Police. The microphone bearing The Wire’s logo was snatched and thrown away.”

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