Advocate Vartika Mani, who is representing the complainant, told Newslaundry, “The police are asking if we have any video (evidence). Delhi Police has everything at its disposal, but they still haven’t been able to examine it. No FIR has been lodged. When we tried to meet (on 3rd October) the complainant, the police were not allowing us to meet her. There should also be a departmental inquiry against the police officer as per the law.”
Ratna Singh, legal affairs head of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), who had come in support of the complainant, said, “They just told us that they had transferred the case to the Crime Branch because of a conflict of interest. As per the law, if a woman says she has been sexually assaulted, then an FIR should be registered. … They don’t even think twice when they register FIRs against protesters, but why is this a problem in this case?”
Brinda Karat, a CPI(M) leader and former Rajya Sabha member who had earlier assisted the complainant inside the Parliament Street Police Station, said, “If a girl complains about sexual harassment, you have to file an FIR. Then they are asking for video proof. This means that if a woman is going somewhere and gets sexually harassed, she has to make a video.”
Speaking to Newslaundry, the DCP, New Delhi, told us, “We have transferred this case to the Crime Branch, and it is not under us now.”
According to , officers said on Sunday that they had recorded the women’s statements and would examine CCTV footage from the protest site. The Express report also took note of another journalist who alleged sexual harassment while covering the protest at Ashoka Road. “I was recording the detention of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan when I felt someone touching my back,” she alleged in her complaint, adding that she turned to find an officer “standing very close” to her. According to the complaint, when she confronted the officer, he allegedly dismissed her claim.
Lawyer and human rights activist Vrinda Grover, in a post on tagging Delhi Police and the DCP New Delhi, said “non registration of FIR of complaint of molestation by police is a cognizable offence”. She argued that police must now register two FIRs – one for molestation under Section 76 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and another for the non-registration of the first under Section 199 of the BNS. She said the investigation can be transferred to the Crime Branch only after both are registered.
In a statement on October 4, DIGIPUB News India Foundation women journalists covering the Jantar Mantar protests on October 2 and 3 faced sexual violence, misconduct and inappropriate touching by senior officers and other police personnel, while women personnel dragged them, snatched their microphones and pushed them into buses. Calling this “a direct attack on democracy, press freedom, and the dignity of women”, it demanded FIRs against the accused officers, their immediate suspension and an independent investigation.
The Press Club of India the same day that it was “shocked and dismayed” by the police’s treatment of journalists at Jantar Mantar on Friday and Saturday. It said journalists carrying press cards reported violent and aggressive behaviour, with some detained alongside protesters, and urged Delhi Police to “immediately act on the female journalist’s complaint”.
Newslaundry has reached out to the Crime Branch for an update on the complaint. This report will be updated when we receive a response.
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