Delhi Police beats and detains a Caravan journalist during CEC protests

The Delhi Police detained and brutally beat up The Caravan’s assistant multimedia producer, Ryan Thomas, on 11 October. Ryan was covering the protests against Gyanesh Kumar and SIR, which the government has tried to quash with an unprecedented police mobilisation in the capital, with multiple trains and metros halted, and with internet shut down across central Delhi. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had directed that, among other things, journalists “shall not be hindered in discharge of their professional duties in any manner whatsoever.”

Around 6 pm, on Janpath Road, as the police were detaining protesters, Ryan started following and recording a video of a group of policemen taking an individual to a detention bus parked nearby. One of them, Assistant Sub-Inspector Kapil Kumar—who was, unlike the others, wearing a name tag—turned and asked Ryan, “Tum kya kar rahe ho yeh”—what are you doing? Suddenly, three cops rushed towards Ryan and began manhandling and hitting him, while dragging him to the detention bus. Ryan repeatedly told them he is a journalist, and his press card was hanging from his neck via a lanyard and visibly displayed.

Inside the bus, five police (two more had come into the bus by then) hit Ryan on the head multiple times and tried to snatch his phone. They tried to force him to delete the images he had recorded. When he refused, stating that he was willing to cooperate with them but would not give up his phone or camera, they intensified the beating. They tried to break his camera and goaded him. One of them said, “Camera se zyada deshbhakti aa raha hai logon main aajkal”—people are feeling a bit too much nationalism because of cameras these days.

A few minutes later, about two other policemen came into the bus. They began saying “Isko doosri gadi mein le chalte hain. Isko doosri jagah le ke jaenge, kyunki ye samajh nahin raha hai”—Let’s take him elsewhere, in a different vehicle, since he is not quite getting it. Kapil Kumar handed Ryan over to these policemen. As he was being taken out of the bus, Ryan asked the two officials not to hit him, since he was cooperating with them. At that point, one of them slapped him hard on the face.

Ryan was pushed into a police car where the detainee he had been trying to record was sitting, along with three other police officials. These officials asked Ryan his name. When they heard it, they slapped him. They asked him his father’s name, and again slapped him upon hearing his answer. Again, they asked him to delete footage from his phone and hand it over. When he refused, a policeman prodded him in the stomach with the butt of his gun. At one point, a policeman pointed to a scar on his own hand and tried to insist to Ryan, “You have done this.”

Finally, the vehicle arrived at the G Block of Connaught Place, where police and paramilitary personnel were shoving more protesters into detention buses. The police threatened to put Ryan in a bus but finally let him go.

Ryan reached the emergency room at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital at 7pm, with three colleagues from The Caravan. Upon reaching, he clearly told the RML staff that the police had beat him up while he was reporting on the protests and that he wanted a medico-legal certificate. He repeated the same to the police, as a part of the MLC proceedings. The doctors examined him and ordered some tests, including a CT scan. Once the tests were done, after more than three hours, Ryan was shown the MLC. Under the heading of “Gist of incident as stated by the injured/accompanying person,” there was a sub heading of “Alleged history.” The authorities had written “injury during protest on 11 oct 26 at 6.30pm cannaught place, c /o headache.” They did not mention that the police had caused the injury. When he, and our other staffers, insisted that this fact be mentioned in the MLC, the authorities refused and asked them to meet the medical superintendent the next day if they wished.

The Caravan reached out to Rajeev Ranjan, the Delhi Police public-relations officer, and Sachin Sharma, the deputy commissioner of police for the New Delhi district, but did not receive a response.