Several protesters were detained outside the Parliament Street police station on Monday while demanding registration of an FIR and a probe into allegations of sexual harassment of three women journalists by police personnel during a protest at Jantar Mantar on October 3.
The protesters sought an investigation into the allegations and demanded that CCTV footage from the site be examined. They said they had approached the police seeking the footage and an update on the complaints but were instead detained.
“We went back and again asked for the CCTV footage, but they did not provide it. They did not register an FIR or give us any update on the case. Instead, we were detained,” a protester told news agency PTI.
Another detained protester alleged that a similar complaint had been made against the police officer concerned in July and said the earlier complaint had not been properly investigated.
“That is our demand because a case had also come up against the concerned police officer in July,” she alleged, according to PTI.
The protest followed allegations by three women journalists that they were sexually harassed by police personnel during a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar on October 3.
Delhi Police said the New Delhi district police had received the complaints and transferred them to the Crime Branch at Kamla Market, for a “fair and impartial enquiry”.
One of the journalists told PTI that an assistant commissioner of police (ACP) had sexually assaulted her when she questioned the absence of women police personnel at the protest site.
The protesters were detained after a confrontation with police. One protester told ANI that they had been demonstrating outside the police station from 6 pm on Sunday until Monday morning, demanding that an FIR be registered.
Another protester, speaking to ANI, alleged that police personnel used sticks against demonstrators inside the station and claimed that women and a disabled person were also assaulted.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police also detained several members of the All India Students' Association (AISA) during a separate protest near Jantar Mantar against Gyanesh Kumar, as demonstrations over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls continued in the capital.
According to ANI, AISA president Neha Bora and senior advocates Prashant Bhushan and Kapil Sibal were among those who attempted to breach police barricades near Jantar Mantar and move forward.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
