Indian police accused of sexual harassment against journalists at protest

Three female journalists have accused police officers in India of sexual harassment during street protests in the capital Delhi.The claims were made on Saturday after the force detained scores of young people calling for the resignation of the chief election commissioner.In a post on social media, Delhi Police said its New Delhi District had received the complaint, and it had been transferred to its crime branch for a “fair and impartial” inquiry. Thousands of protesters gathered in Delhi and Mumbai cities for a third day on Sunday demanding that Gyanesh Kumar step down over large-scale changes to voter rolls.The Election Commission says the exercise is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries – and so far, 130 million names have been struck off the voters’ list.Videos online show people being physically dragged away from the Jantar Mantar protest site in central Delhi.The accusations by the women journalists include inappropriate touching by some police.Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said women fear for their safety and the home ministry must “answer for this”.”Police dragged me by my hair,” Aahna Singh, an activist and student at Jawaharlal Nehru University told Reuters news agency during the protests.She said the police were resorting to “brutality”.The Press Club of India has demanded immediate action on the complaints against police officers, saying it was “shocked and dismayed” by the treatment of journalists.”Behaviour of this kind cannot be normalised in a democracy. Journalists must be allowed to work freely, without fear, and document those who gather to raise various issues,” it said in a statement.