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Three female journalists alleged that Delhi Police personnel sexually harassed them on October 3 while they covered detentions at a protest in central Delhi’s Jantar Mantar area. One independent reporter claimed Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat groped her after she questioned the absence of female officers during the arrests according to accounts compiled by The Wire. A video journalist separately stated that an officer rubbed against her back and thighs with his body while she recorded the detention of activists Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav as detailed in complaints reported by the Indian Express. At least one of the women spent hours at Parliament Street police station seeking registration of a formal case.
Delhi Police said in a statement posted on social media that its New Delhi district had received the complaints from the three journalists and transferred them to the Crime Branch for a fair and impartial inquiry. The force described the allegations as having arisen during a law and order situation at the protest site. An official initially told The Hindu that no first information report had been filed because of insufficient evidence though the matter is now under review by detectives according to multiple outlets including Hindustan Times.
The claims emerged amid demonstrations organized by the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party and opposition groups demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Reuters reported that police detained several protesters on October 3 after they removed security barricades at the site and chanted slogans including calls for Kumar to step down. Independent Member of Parliament Kapil Sibal and activists such as Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan joined the action which built on similar rallies held the previous day.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi stated that women fear for their safety and the home ministry must answer for the incident BBC News reported. The All India Students Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists alleged that male officers manhandled women protesters journalists and lawyers with several complaining of groping India Today reported. Journalists and supporters staged a sit-in outside the police station overnight to press for immediate registration of FIRs against the named officers.
The protests target large-scale revisions to voter rolls that the Election Commission has said struck off 130 million duplicate and ineligible entries. The commission has described the special intensive revision as a routine exercise to clean the lists according to statements cited across reporting by Reuters and the BBC. Demonstrations spread to Mumbai on Sunday marking a third consecutive day of action as security remained tight near key sites in the capital.
Separate complaints from the protests highlighted the lack of female police personnel at the scene which one journalist raised with officers before the alleged incident according to video messages shared by the Committee to Protect Journalists. AISA said in a statement that the behaviour fell short of professional standards expected during crowd management. Police have registered other cases related to the protest under laws prohibiting disobedience to public orders but the sexual harassment inquiry proceeds independently through the Crime Branch.
