Muslim women journalists allege police assault in Indian capital
Reporters say police beat them after learning their Muslim identity following detention while attempting to question Delhi chief minister
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Two Muslim women journalists have accused police in the Indian capital of assaulting them in custody and intensifying the beating after learning they were Muslims, triggering condemnation from press organizations and renewed concerns over the treatment of journalists and religious minorities in India.
Shaheen Khan and Nafisa Khan, journalists with the digital outlet 4PM News Network, said they were detained Thursday after attempting to question Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta while covering a public event in the capital.
The journalists had gone to report on the inauguration of a new wing at Max Hospital in Saket, attended by Gupta and India’s Hindu nationalist Home Minister Amit Shah, when they were allegedly dragged away and taken to Saket Police Station.
Shaheen alleged that officers took them into a room at the instruction of the station house officer, where women police personnel assaulted them.
She said the violence escalated after officers asked their names and discovered they were Muslims.
“They asked which community we belonged to; they thrashed us again,” Shaheen said in a video circulated online after their release.
Both women displayed bruises and welts on their arms and legs that they said resulted from the assault. They later went to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for a medico-legal examination.
Delhi Police denied assaulting the journalists or taking action against them for attempting to question Gupta, describing the allegations as “false, misleading and baseless.”
Police offered a sharply different account, saying the women had parked a scooter on a designated route for VIPs near the event and refused repeated instructions to move it. Officers said they were subsequently taken to the police station for questioning because of security protocols.
The allegations have drawn a wider response from India’s journalist community.
The Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists, Press Association and Kerala Union of Working Journalists jointly condemned the alleged assault and demanded an independent investigation and action against police personnel found responsible.
4PM News Network said Shaheen had been attempting to question the chief minister when she was detained and raised concerns that the police action could be connected to the outlet’s recent critical reporting on the Delhi government.
The allegations come amid longstanding concerns over declining press freedom in India, where journalists reporting critically on the government have faced arrests, criminal cases, raids and other forms of pressure.
Muslim journalists have faced an additional layer of hostility amid growing anti-Muslim rhetoric and discrimination accompanying the rise of Hindu nationalism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which has governed India since 2014 and also controls the Delhi government.
Opposition parties, including the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, condemned the alleged assault and demanded action against the officers involved.
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