New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday detained several journalists and protesters from Parliament Street police station where they were demanding action in connection with the alleged sexual assault on three female media persons, including by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), on Saturday.
The detainees alleged that the police took them to Delhi Cantonment police station and “brutally assaulted” them. The Delhi Police has denied these allegations.
The detentions came a day after a woman journalist approached the Parliament Street police station to register an FIR, accusing ACP Vivek Bhagat of the Delhi Police of sexual assault on Saturday during the protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The current protest in and around the Capital’s Jantar Mantar area began on 2 October when students and political activists began gathering to demand the resignation of the CEC over alleged wrongdoing in the countrywide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
As more protesters gathered over the weekend, clashes broke out as the police began detaining them and taking them away on buses. During one such clash on Saturday between protesters and policemen, three female journalists alleged that Delhi Police officers sexually assaulted them.
Demanding an FIR in the matter, several journalists and protesters late on Saturday began a sit-down protest right outside the Parliament Street police station. Around midnight, Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ratna Singh also reached the spot in support of the action against the officers.
“Yesterday (Sunday), the police asked us to give them some time; we cooperated with them this morning… when there was still no FIR, we peacefully demanded the same and they asked us to give them 20 minutes,” said one of the media persons who has alleged sexual assault.
A senior Delhi Police officer, not wanting to be named, said the protesters were detained and taken to Delhi Cantt police station Monday morning. “Nobody is allowed to protest in the New Delhi district as Section 163 has been imposed. Moreover, the area outside Parliament Street police station is not a designated spot for protest.”
Asked about allegations of physical assault on the detainees, the officer said: “We did not beat up the detainees.”
‘Detained’ and ‘assaulted’
The journalist quoted earlier had put out a video alleging that the police began “assaulting” them and detaining them. “They picked us up and took us to the Delhi Cantt police station, where female constables hit us, whispered abuses into our ears and groped us,” she said in a video recorded inside the Delhi Cantt police station.
Another protester, Kinjal Vishnav, alleged in a video that a policewoman assaulted her brutally, hitting her all over. “She hit me on my stomach, back, scratched me on my face and used foul language,” Vaishnav alleged.
A third male protester said that the police hit him brutally on his back. “They ripped my shirt, hit me relentlessly and used foul language. I kept telling them that I have not done anything,” he said in a video. The protester further alleged that he lost a silver chain and gold pendant as a result of the “brutal assault”.
“We have not hit any protester or those who were detained,” said a senior Delhi Police officer.
Allegations of sexual assault
A complaint filed by one of the journalists says she had spotted All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora and other female protesters being detained in the absence of female officers on Saturday. She alleged that an officer “pushed” and “shoved” her when she pointed this out. According to the complaint, the officer fled when she confronted him.
Another journalist who was covering Saturday’s protests on Ashoka Road related her experience. “I was recording the detention of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan at about 3 pm when I felt someone touching my back,” she alleged, adding that she turned to find an officer “standing very close” to her. According to the complaint, when confronted about the alleged “inappropriate touching”, he rejected her accusation.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)