Started putting a black cloth in front of the phone… When the police detained the NBT reporter for covering the protest

New Delhi: Monday evening 4 o’clock. A woman reporter of presswire18 Times (NBT) was going towards the office from South Block. While passing near Kartavya Path, she saw that some women were raising slogans and there were a large number of policemen near the police barricades. The NBT reporter went closer to see on which issue the protest was happening, then a policeman stopped her, he/she told her that he/she was from the media, then he/she did not say anything. On reaching closer, she saw that about 14-15 women wearing red kurtas were raising slogans demanding implementation of women reservation and the police were catching them and putting them in buses. She started making a video.

‘Can’t stop media from covering protests’

The policemen stopped her from making the video and started putting a black cloth in front of her phone. She protested and said that you cannot stop the media from covering the protest like this. She also showed her media ID card. Even after that, they kept stopping her and then tried to snatch her phone, which she protested against. No woman police personnel was seen there but there were women CRPF soldiers. They forcefully snatched her phone from her and despite her continuous protest and telling them that she was from the media, they put her in the bus with the protesters. From the bus too, she kept saying that you cannot detain a reporter like this and kept showing her ID card. But the bus closed the gate and moved ahead.

‘Everyone was sweating in the scorching sun and extreme humidity’

Apart from her, there were 13 women in the bus, all wearing red kurta. he/she asked them which organisation they belonged to, they told that they are workers of All India Mahila Congress and are demanding implementation of women reservation and for this they wanted time to meet the President. Everyone was sweating in the hot sun and extreme humidity. Noori Khan is the Kashmir in-charge of All India Mahila Congress and Sheetal Maan is the National Observer. She said that we were protesting peacefully for implementation of women reservation, women safety and Prime Minister’s silence on Manipur issue but the policemen forcibly put us in the bus.

‘The protesting woman’s health started deteriorating’

On asking where the bus was going, the policeman present in the bus told that it was going to Kapashera police station. Why so far… No answer was received. The protesting women kept raising slogans in the bus and kept singing the bhajan Itni Shakti Humein Dena Data. Razia Bano is the Mewat district president of Mahila Congress and she told that she has won a medal in wrestling in the National Games and has also won many international medals in Taekwondo. Everyone inside the bus was in a bad condition due to the heat. The protesting women demanded water but there was no water. One protesting woman started feeling unwell, her companions told that her sugar level was going down. After crossing Dhaula Kuan, the women personnel of CRPF stopped the bus and bought a bottle of water and also a toffee for her. After reaching Kapashera police station, the names of all the protesters and their names were noted. There were about 50-60 more women protesters who were protesting at Jantar Mantar and were detained from there. Everyone was released at around 6:15 pm.