17

Oct

Delhi Police War Against Reporters : Case of the missing little Blue Book

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Amitabh Srivastava 

New Delhi I Saturday I October 17, 2026

It was heart breaking to hear at the Press Club of India stories of young reporters and photographers talking about their trauma. It seems the Delhi Police has launched a full-scale war on journalists  covering the recent agitations at the Jantar Mantar, now declared out of bounds.
This was heart rending because journalists normally don't have the time to talk about the hurdles in getting a story. It's part of the package when you decide to become a reporter/photographer. 
But this time the crackdown has been too harsh.
Today's news telling us that the female reporter Rosy who had showed visuals of being groped by ACP Vivek Bhagat while covering the agitation has an FIR against her under the SC/ST Act.
She, along with some other women journalists had sat for hours in the Police Station demanding an FIR against the ACP but the case was handed to the Crime Branch.
And today's papers show that an FIR has been registered against the woman journalist.
The young journalists assembled at the PCI to share their stories had one common thread.
They were asked to show PIB cards to prove their identity. The authorities did know a basic fact that a PIB card is given to senior journalists (5 years plus) and freelancers with a minimum service of at least 15 years.
By the time they get the Bureau their beats are no longer Crime but other beats covering Ministries etc.
As I sat listening to the veterans including  Rajdeep Sardesai, Sidharth Varadarajan, Sreenivasan Jain Paranjoy Roy, Suhasini Haider etc they were all coming out with their conspiracy theories about the intention of the Modi-Shah combine to supress the media by stopping young reporters and photographers from discharging their duty.
Rajdeep Sardesai came out with the story that this was not the style of Delhi Police but Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir had reached Delhi.
Every other journalist agreed.
Then there was some mention of the legacy Media and digital media which further divided the gathering .
But as I was telling my friend and senior journalist Sunil Negi the proceedings reminded me of my crime reporting days in 1976 onwards when the Delhi Police was always on our side.
When we were in the field no one asked for the PIB card.
Actually I got my PIB card after leaving Hindustan Times and Sahara Time which means after 35 years in journalism.
All we needed during our job in the field was the Delhi Police diary where the names and numbers of  all reporters were mentioned. Normally this was a small Blue Book published every year and we were the Guests of Delhi Police at the daily press conference.
Having worked with legendary police officers like Ved Marwah, Amod Kanth, Kiran Bedi etc I always felt that police was always our protectors never against us.
What has changed since then ?
For economic reasons the Delhi Police has stopped publishing the police diary.
With that diary in our shirt pockets, we  could literally say that " We had Delhi Police in our pocket". 
Not in a derogatory sense but as friends we could always trust.
Detaining journalists in police vans and beating them up was never the scene in the capital.
Sometimes small things matter so much!
 

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