Police used excessive and targeted force on journalists covering youth-led protests in India, local press groups and international media rights bodies said, and warned that press freedom in the country was under threat.

Young Indians, mobilised by the “cockroach” youth movement and supported by opposition parties, took to the streets of New Delhi on the weekend demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a sharply contested revision of voter lists in the country.

They allege the names of more than 130 million voters were deleted from the electoral roll to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections, a charge the Election Commission denies.

Nearly three dozen journalists from outlets including the Indian Express, Scroll and Newslaundry, were detained for hours before being released, according to Reuters interviews with some journalists.

Some were dragged and roughly handled by the police and their phones were seized, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene, journalists interviewed by Reuters, and footage from mainstream and digital news outlets.

Some of those detained said they were clearly identifiable as members of the press. The Reuters journalist was also briefly detained.

The Delhi police did not immediately reply to an e-mailed request for comment on how many journalists were detained and why, and how they were handled by officers.

Earlier, police said in a video posted on X that some protesters had posed as journalists and had interfered with their work.

The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The actions of the Indian authorities during the recent student protests, led by the Cockroach Janta Party, demonstrate how their tactics are designed to stifle media coverage and can be combined to suppress journalism,” said Ritika Jain, India representative of Reporters Without Borders.

“Detention, surveillance, internet shutdowns, and the removal of journalistic content form a chain of restrictions,” she said, urging authorities to remove restrictions on journalists.

Court ruled police should not impede reporters

The police action led lawyers to seek a ruling from India’s top court on Sunday to allow lawyers and journalists to perform their duties, with the court ruling in favour.

However, some detentions came after the court order, journalists said.

Press Club of India, the nation’s largest journalist group, called the police action “a blatant attack on the freedom of press.”

In a joint statement with three other bodies, it said journalists were held while they were filming the police detaining protesters and their devices were seized.

The associations also sought a formal apology and investigation into the actions of senior police officials.

“I was interviewing some people detained in a bus when a police officer came at me and grabbed my mic…I was dragged, my phone was snatched and I was forcefully detained along with my producer,” Anmol Pritam, a reporter at Indian digital news outlet Newslaundry, told Reuters. He was detained for nearly three hours on 10 October.

Police did not respond to a request for comment on the case.

India ranks 157 out of 180 countries in the press freedom index of Reporters Without Borders, having fallen from 133 a decade ago. Critics attribute the drop to the Modi government’s increased attempts to restrain the press and shrink space for critical or dissenting voices in its 12-year rule. The Indian government has often denied the claim.

The Indian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment e-mailed outside usual work hours.

The Indian constitution recognises journalists’ rights under free speech provisions but also allows authorities to impose reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order.