THE Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ), in a statement issued on February 17, have expressed their dismay at the attempt by the Railway Police and authorities to intimidate journalist Saumya Raj and prevent her from reporting the stampede deaths at the New Delhi Railway Station on February 16, 2025. Raj, who reports for the popular YouTube channel Molitics India, was asked for her press identity card which she produced but the authorities nevertheless demanded that she stop videoing. Her phone was snatched and she was told to delete the video recording she had made. 

The DUJ condemns the tendency among government authorities to hide their acts of omission and commission from the gaze of the media and the public, instead of acknowledging their role in such tragic events. After the fatal stampedes at the Kumbh, the Railway authorities should have been prepared for crowd management at all stations. Transparency and better governance is the need of the hour, not desperate attempts at covering up tragic mistakes by intimidating journalists who try to report the truth.