New Delhi: Three women journalists have alleged sexual harassment by police personnel during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Jantar Mantar October 3, prompting the Delhi Police to transfer their complaints to the Crime Branch for an impartial enquiry, an officer said Sunday.
On Saturday, one of the women journalists told PTI that an assistant commissioner of police (ACP) sexually assaulted her.
The officer said the New Delhi district police received complaints following the alleged incidents during the protest, when police personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.
The district police have transferred the complaints to the Crime Branch for a fair and impartial enquiry, the officer said.
The Crime Branch will examine the allegations and record statements of the complainants and other persons concerned as part of the enquiry, the officer said.
The women journalist told PTI that she and others subsequently went to a police station to lodge an FIR, but alleged that no action had been taken.
“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.
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However, ACP Vivek Bhagat could not be contacted despite repeated calls and messages. A source said his name was mentioned in the complaint submitted by the journalists.
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 on the complaint immediately.
“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,” it said in a statement.
“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.