Two women journalists in Delhi alleged on Thursday that Delhi Police personnel detained and assaulted them while they were covering a news event in South Delhi. Delhi Police has not responded to the allegations so far. Dinesh Kumar, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Saket Police Station, declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Newslaundry.

In a video posted on social media by 4PM News Network, journalist Shaheen Khan is seen at a police station, alleging physical assault and mental harassment. She also shows injury marks on the body of a woman colleague.

Along with the video, 4PM News Network put out a post that read: “Has asking the chief minister a question become such a big crime that police will brutally beat up a journalist? What happened today in Delhi with 4PM’s journalist Shaheen is extremely serious and frightening.”

The post went on to say: “Shaheen was trying to ask Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta a question. Shaheen alleges that Delhi Police caught hold of her at that point and took her to the police station while beating her. She also alleges that when police personnel asked her name and heard ‘Khan,’ the assault intensified.”

4PM also suggested in its post that the incident may have been linked to her journalistic work.

Besides Shaheen, journalist Nafisa Khan is also reported to have been assaulted. A person associated with the two journalists told Newslaundry that the incident took place during the inauguration of a new building at Saket Max Hospital, where the two had gone to report. Both were taken into custody from there.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has targeted the BJP-led Delhi government over the incident. AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj, in a post on X, said: “Delhi Police have brutally beaten two women reporters for asking Chief Minister Rekha Gupta a question. Woman Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, this is shameful.”

Former Delhi law minister and AAP leader Somnath Bharti wrote on X: “This is absolutely unacceptable. Shaheen, besides being a journalist, is also a resident of my assembly constituency, and I am deeply shocked by this development. I request the honourable Lieutenant Governor to intervene in this matter and fix accountability of the police officers involved. An FIR must be registered in this case, and action must be taken against the responsible officers who subjected a journalist to brutality while she was performing her duty.”

The Indian National Congress posted on X: “The hooliganism of the BJP government and Delhi Police. When 4PM’s journalist Shaheen asked Chief Minister Rekha Gupta a question, Delhi Police detained and assaulted her. Shaheen says that when the policemen found out she was Muslim, she was beaten even more brutally. There are injuries on her body… the camera person is also lying unconscious. Such treatment of a journalist is completely wrong, and strict action should be taken against the guilty policemen. However, there is little hope of that, because asking questions has become a crime under the BJP government.”

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