CPI(M) demands action over sexual harassment of women journalists by police

Three women journalists have complained that they were sexually harassed or manhandled by police while covering the protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. One journalist alleged that an ACP, Vivek Bhagat, pushed her and touched her inappropriately while she was recording the detention of Neha Bora, president of the All India Students' Association (AISA). Another journalist alleged that a police officer pressed himself against her while she was filming the detention of protesters. The allegations are subject to investigation. Delhi Police has said that complaints from all three women were received, that they underwent medical examinations and that the cases have been transferred to the Crime Branch for a “fair and impartial” inquiry.

On 4 October, senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat publicly demanded the immediate registration of an FIR and action against the police officer accused by one of the journalists. Karat criticised the police for initially asking the complainant to provide video evidence before proceeding with the case. She argued that registering an FIR is a legal requirement when a complaint of sexual harassment is made and that the burden should not be placed on the complainant to produce video evidence.

Karat subsequently joined a delegation that went to Parliament Street Police Station with the complainant to demand that the complaint be formally acted upon. The delegation included Aishe Ghosh and other activists. The intervention was part of a wider protest outside the police station demanding an FIR and accountability for the alleged conduct of police personnel.

For the CPI(M), the incident is linked to what the party describes as a broader suppression of democratic protest in Delhi. On 2 October, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau had condemned the detention of hundreds of young people and students who had gathered around Jantar Mantar to demand the removal of the CEC and an end to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The party said Delhi Police had prevented people from exercising their constitutional right to protest and alleged that protesters had been brutally manhandled during the detentions. CPI(M) General Secretary M.A. Baby and Brinda Karat were among those detained, together with leaders of the DYFI and SFI.

The CPI(M) therefore presents the allegations concerning the journalists as part of the wider conduct of the police during the anti-CEC demonstrations. Its intervention has focused on two immediate demands: that the women's complaints be formally registered and investigated, and that police personnel accused of misconduct be held accountable.

(Photo: Amit/ANI Photo)