By Scroll Staff
A woman journalist, who alleged that she had been sexually harassed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat on Saturday, was detained again on Monday, reported The Hindu.
She was detained as protests continued outside the Parliament Street police station demanding that a first information report be registered against Bhagat. The journalist had also been detained during a protest on Sunday.
She was among the three women journalists who alleged that they were sexually harassed by police officers while covering the protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar.
The journalist who was detained had alleged that Bhagat groped her while she was making a video of the student leader Neha Bora being detained. She said that she had gone to the Parliament Street police station to file a complaint, but no action was taken.
An unidentified police official was quoted as saying by The Hindu that registering cases against police personnel for actions taken while performing law and order duties could “deter them from working”.
Another unidentified police official told the newspaper on Sunday that there was no evidence to substantiate the journalist’s allegation.
On Sunday, the Delhi Police said that the allegations of sexual harassment had been received “in context of the emergent law and order situation” a day earlier.
The New Delhi district police has received their complaints and transferred them to the Crime Branch at Kamla Market for a “fair and impartial enquiry” against the police officers, it said.
It was unclear whether the Delhi Police was referring to the allegations against Bhagat or to separate complaints of sexual assault.
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