Woman alleging ACP molestation among 18 detained in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday detained 18 people, including a woman who has accused an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of molesting her, as protesters demanded the registration of an FIR against the officer.

The detentions took place outside the Parliament Street police station, where protesters had gathered seeking an investigation into allegations that three women journalists were sexually harassed by police personnel at Jantar Mantar on Saturday.

The journalists had been covering a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Ratna Singh, legal affairs head of the Cockroach Janta Party, alleged on X that some of those detained had been assaulted in custody. She claimed that two people were “brutally beaten” and said the woman who had accused the ACP had informed her about the alleged assault.

Singh said all 18 detainees were being held at Delhi Cantonment police station and urged Delhi Police to release them. The police have not publicly responded to the allegations of custodial assault.

The protesters also demanded that CCTV footage of the alleged incident be examined. One of the protesters said they had approached the police station on the day of the incident seeking access to the footage but were asked to return after 24 hours.

“When we went back and again asked for the CCTV footage, they did not provide it. They did not file an FIR or give us any update. Instead, we were detained,” the protester told PTI Videos.

Another detained protester alleged that a similar complaint had been filed against the same officer in July but no investigation had followed. She claimed that the latest complaint was also not being taken seriously.

One of the three journalists told PTI that an ACP had sexually assaulted her after she questioned the absence of women police personnel at the protest site.

The New Delhi district police have transferred the complaints to the Crime Branch for a “fair and impartial enquiry”, a police officer said earlier.

Police personnel deployed at Jantar Mantar during the protest were not wearing name tags, officials familiar with the matter told the Hindustan Times.

The officials said the measure was intended to prevent police personnel from being identified and targeted on social media, as had allegedly happened after violence during a CJP march on July 20.

On the first day of protests against Kumar, demonstrators filmed police personnel and questioned the absence of name tags. Some officers said their tags had fallen off, while others claimed they had forgotten to wear them. Several personnel did not offer an explanation.

According to the report, officers who managed the July protests told review meetings that they and their families had faced online harassment. They were reportedly assured that no action would be taken against personnel who removed their tags, provided they acted within the law.

Most Indian Police Service officers wore their name tags during Monday’s deployment, while several junior personnel did not.