Indian Police Accused of Sexually Harassing Journalists in Delhi — SkimNews
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- Three female journalists accused police officers of sexual harassment, including inappropriate touching, during Saturday's street protests in Delhi, with videos showing people physically dragged from the Jantar Mantar site.
- Delhi Police confirmed receiving the complaint and transferred it to its crime branch for a "fair and impartial" inquiry.
- Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar faced a third consecutive day of protests on Sunday in Delhi and Mumbai, with demonstrators demanding his resignation over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
- The Election Commission has struck 130 million names from India's voters' list, saying the exercise removes duplicate and ineligible entries; the last revision was nearly a quarter-century ago.
- Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said women fear for their safety and the home ministry must "answer for this," while the Press Club of India said it was "shocked and dismayed" and demanded immediate action.
- Activist Aahna Singh, a Jawaharlal Nehru University student, told Reuters "Police dragged me by my hair" and described the force's actions as "brutality."
- The Indian Express reported that Kumar's two fellow election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions they said were issued without their knowledge.
Why it matters: The harassment allegations elevate a political dispute over 130 million purged voter names into a crisis of state conduct, with the crime branch now investigating Delhi Police at the same protest where police were already detaining demonstrators. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has publicly demanded the home ministry answer, and the Election Commission's own two fellow commissioners logged at least 14 formal objections against Kumar — meaning the pressure on the chief election commissioner now comes from both the streets and inside his own institution.
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