New Delhi: Among the several thousands being detained en masse by the Delhi Police to stop the protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from taking off, are journalists, many of whom are independent or belong to independent media houses.The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the police to immediately release all the detained journalists, as has the digital news platforms’ collective Digipub.Detained for documenting a protest. Journalists at Jantar Mantar showed their ID cards and were taken anyway.DIGIPUB demands their immediate release. Journalism is not a crime.@DelhiGovDigital @LtGovDelhi @DelhiPolice @PIBHomeAffairs https://t.co/Suiq5bUQ6A— DIGIPUB News India Foundation (@DigipubIndia) October 10, 2026The National Alliance of Journalists in a statement cautioned against continued attacks on journalists, teachers, students, writers, trade unionists and leaders of various opposition parties. In a joint statement today, it supported the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and various bodies like the Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) and the Press Club of India (PCI) in condemning these attacks.Nearly a day ago, the Editors Guild of India had also released a statement cautioning Delhi Police against violence on journalists.The Delhi Police, which had, in the days leading up to the protests released a controversial set of guidelines for journalists, had noted in it that reporters on the ground should display their press cards prominently. However, on October 10, police displayed little regard for the press card and several journalists were detained.The Wire’s Jahnavi Sen, Sravasti Dasgupta and Antara Baruah report having seen police round people up into buses with no attention to press cards at all.Why’s Delhi Police picking up journalists with prominent PRESS ID card displayed on them?My colleagues @jahnavi_sen @antarabaruah__ & I almost got detained despite saying again&again we’re journalistsOnly when large number of other journalists arrived,they let us go@thewire_in— Sravasti Dasgupta (@SravastiDasgup2) October 10, 2026This happened just a few hundred metres from our office – with policewomen insisting they had to detain us and “drop us elsewhere”. @thewire_in— Jahnavi Sen (@jahnavi_sen) October 10, 2026The Quint has posted a video showing journalists in detention buses despite showing their press cards. The organisation’s Sarthak Jaiswal was also detained.Ground Report | Journalists and Mediapersons show their Press cards as Police continue to detain them.Follow @thequint for more updates.#CockroachJantaParty #Protest #JantarMantar #Delhi #Politics https://t.co/TAPxD4Kd7Y— The Quint (@TheQuint) October 10, 2026The Scroll‘s executive editor Supriya Sharma has posted on X that its reporter Ayush Tiwari was detained despite showing his press card. Tiwari told The Wire that his detention happened at the HKS Bhawan and that he was wearing his press card prominently all along. The bus he has been detained in was being taken to Sarai Rohilla, he has been told.At around 1.14 pm, Tiwari tweeted that he was no longer under detention because the police bus he was in nearly caught fire.Update: I’m not in detention anymore. The police bus I was in nearly caught fire. @scroll_in https://t.co/19BPnSG7np— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 10, 2026Hours later, the outlet’s political editor Shoaib Daniyal was also detained from C.R. Park. “He was not even in Central Delhi,” Supriya Sharma posted.Daniyal was eventually released. In the meantime, Scroll tweeted that a third journalist, Divya Aslesha, was held in Pune.Three Newslaundry reporters, Anmol Pritam, Ashwine Kumar Singh and Astha Savyasachi, were also detained by Delhi Police, according to a statement by the news organisation.“Delhi Police have also seized Newslaundry’s official phones, which our reporters were using to carry out their reporting duties. When the journalists identified themselves as media personnel, they were reportedly told, “Koi media nahin hai”,” Newslaundry said in a statement.“Around 30 people have been put into a single bus, including protesters and journalists. Our reporters have identified Inspector Dhan Singh Malik as the officer who snatched the phones,” the statement said.Newslaundry eventually noted that all three were released.In a tweet, Savyasachi said that they were “detained, had our phones taken away, and were manhandled and mistreated.”Today, I and my reporter colleagues were told where we could and couldn’t stand.Four of us — @AshwineSingh , @anmolpritamND, @AnshuAn71912319 and I — were detained, had our phones taken away, and were manhandled and mistreated.We’re back on the ground. We’ll keep reporting, anyway.— Astha Savyasachi (@SavyasachiAstha) October 10, 2026Journalist Shyam Meera Singh has shared a video showing that journalists who are reporting on or recording police’s detentions are also being themselves detained.Complete Emergency: Police detaining Journalists @ShyamMeeraSingh https://t.co/aYrMSJtkmc— Neha Boraa (@NehaAisa) October 10, 2026Delhi police has also detained Navbharat Times journalists Hritik Joshi and Rahul Charas while they were working and are taking them to Dariyaganj, Navbharat Times editor Ashish Pandey posted on X.“They misbehaved with Rahul too,” he wrote.Reuters journalist Saurabh Sharma was also detained by Delhi Police today.Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair has tweeted that fact-checker Kinjal, along with other journalists, was detained today.Our colleague @HereisKinjal, other journalists and activists are detained by Ahmedabad Police. @AltNews https://t.co/XOkFoG3wgb— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) October 10, 2026