The police crackdown on journalists covering the anti-CAA protests across the country has made one thing clear. The press card, a powerful tool in the hands of every journalist, offers little protection if the name on it is that of a Muslim.

Dozens of journalists were hounded by the police across the country during the protests in the last few weeks, leading many journalist unions to stage a protest in the national capital on December 26. Among them the most vulnerable to violence, threats of violence and bias by police were those with a Muslim name.

Diminishing value of press card

The police in Delhi attacked BBC journalist Bushra Sheikh when she was covering the protests at Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15. They allegedly broke her phone, abused her in filthy, islamophobic language and pulled her by the hair. The police, which went on a rampage inside the university, also brutally attacked Shaheen Abdullah, a journalist with the online outlet Maktoob Media.