New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded an explanation from Union Home Minister Amit Shah over allegations that Delhi Police personnel misbehaved with women during a protest at Jantar Mantar, saying the force functions under the Home Ministry and the minister must respond.
“A female journalist has accused a police officer of misconduct at Jantar Mantar. For hours, hundreds of journalists have been sitting there with just one demand: that an FIR be registered. Isn’t that the police’s basic duty? They haven’t even done that,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said in a Hindi post on X.
Gandhi claimed that hundreds of people were taken into custody at Jantar Mantar on Saturday. “There are allegations of misconduct with women protesters. Cameras were snatched, journalists were dragged. And this isn’t the first time — we’ve seen video evidence of police officers engaging in disgusting misconduct with women earlier,” he said.
Rahul Questions Shah
The Congress leader alleged that women and students across Delhi were sitting in satyagraha out of fear for their safety, while the police responsible for protecting them were raising their hands against them. “And a government that fears registering even one woman’s complaint — what exactly is it protecting? Delhi Police comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Amit Shah ji, where are you? You have to answer for this,” Gandhi wrote.
His remarks came after three women journalists alleged sexual harassment by police personnel while covering the October 3 protest. Delhi Police said on Sunday that the New Delhi district police had received the complaints and transferred them to the Crime Branch for a fair and impartial inquiry.
An officer said the Crime Branch would examine the allegations and record the statements of the complainants and other persons concerned. One journalist alleged that Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat sexually assaulted her while she was covering the protest, as reported by The New Indian Express.
Journalist’s Allegation
“Police personnel were detaining protesters, and there were no women police personnel present at the spot. I asked ACP Vivek Bhagat of the Delhi Police about the absence of women police personnel, following which he sexually assaulted me and pushed me back,” she alleged.
The journalist said she and others later went to a police station to lodge an FIR, but alleged that no action had been taken so far. The Press Council of India expressed “shock and dismay” over the police’s treatment of journalists covering the protest and urged the Delhi Police to act immediately on the complaint.
“Behaviour of this kind cannot be normalised in a democracy. Journalists must be allowed to work freely, without fear, and document those who gather to raise various issues. That this is not being allowed even at the heart of the national capital does not bode well for the trajectory of media freedom in India,” the Council said.
“The Delhi Police must immediately act on the female journalist’s complaint and ensure that it gives media persons the space to do their jobs without having to face aggression and threats,” it added.
AISA’s Complaint
The All India Students’ Association (AISA) also made a similar complaint, alleging that women protesters, journalists and lawyers were manhandled by male police personnel. “Women protesters, journalists and lawyers were manhandled by male police. Several women have complained of being groped by male police personnel,” AISA said.
“A police force that claims to ensure justice to women cannot maintain basic protocols of crowd management. Male police officers openly abused women protesters and behaved in the most unprofessional way,” the student organisation said.