PoliticsPress freedom
Women journalists can file harassment allegations in sealed cover, Supreme Court says
The Chief Justice said a committee to look into the complaints from the Delhi protests should be made up mostly or wholly of women. The government denied seizing reporters' phones.
Key points
- Women journalists may place their allegations before the court in a sealed cover.
- The Chief Justice said the inquiry committee should be predominantly or exclusively women.
- The Solicitor General told the court no devices had been seized from reporters.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed women journalists who say they were sexually harassed by police during the Delhi protests to put their allegations before it in a sealed cover, and said any committee set up to look into the complaints should be made up predominantly or exclusively of women.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the Network of Women in Media, India, asked for a committee headed by a woman and for permission to file the details confidentially. Chief Justice Surya Kant agreed to both. The plea concerns women reporters who say they were manhandled and harassed while covering the protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, including three who made complaints after a protest near Jantar Mantar on 3 October.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government supported security for all women, including women police personnel. He argued that some of those at the protests had come mainly to shoot social media reels, which made it hard to tell journalists apart from online content creators.
Phones and cameras
The Delhi Union of Journalists, represented by senior advocate Arvind Datar, asked for the return of devices it says were taken from reporters. Its petition alleges that journalists were detained, assaulted and stopped from recording on 10 and 11 October, and wants an independent inquiry and protection for freelance and digital reporters.
Mehta told the bench that no devices had been seized. The court issued notice on the union’s plea but passed no directions.
The journalists’ petitions were heard with the wider batch over the detentions, in which the court ordered all agencies to preserve CCTV footage and other digital material from the protests.