Sit-in at Saket police station over alleged assault on women journalists
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Journalists, activists and Congress workers staged a sit-in at Delhi’s Saket police station late on Wednesday, demanding action against police personnel accused of assaulting two women reporters. Shaheen Khan of 4 PM News Network and freelance journalist Nafisa Khan alleged that they were detained and beaten while covering an event at a private hospital in Saket attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
The two journalists alleged that they were first manhandled near the venue before being taken to Saket police station, where police personnel, including women officers, assaulted them. They claimed the violence escalated after officers learnt that they were Muslim, and that they were subjected to religion-specific slurs and threats of criminal cases.
Shaheen Khan alleged that a woman police officer and other senior personnel dragged the pair by their hair, took them into a room and beat them. The journalists displayed injury marks which they said were caused by baton blows, while video footage circulated online showed bruises on both women.
All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora was among those who joined the protest at the police station in the early hours of Thursday. Congress Minority Department workers also gathered at the site, raising slogans against the police and calling for the immediate suspension of the officers named in the complaint.
The complaint was registered by around 3 a.m., according to the media organisation, although Shaheen Khan said an FIR should be lodged against the accused personnel and they should be suspended without delay.
Delhi Police rejected the allegations, describing them as “baseless” and “misleading”. South district Deputy Commissioner of Police Anant Mittal said the journalists had parked their scooter along a designated VVIP route near the venue, obstructing it, and had refused repeated requests to move the vehicle.
Police said the women were subsequently taken to the local station for further enquiry, and denied that they had been assaulted for asking questions of the chief minister.
The Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists, Press Association and Kerala Union of Working Journalists condemned the alleged assault and demanded punitive action against Saket police station personnel, including the SHO. The organisations urged Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar to order a free and fair investigation and asked the Press Council of India to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.