Groped while recording: three women journalists accuse Delhi Police at CEC protest

New Delhi, Oct 4 — Three women journalists have accused Delhi Police officers of sexual harassment during Saturday's protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the controversial voter-roll revision. One of the complainants alleged that an assistant commissioner of police sexually assaulted her — touching her inappropriately and pushing her away while she was recording the police action. She and her associates further claimed that when they went to the police station to file the complaint, it was not registered immediately. Delhi Police said on Sunday that the complaints had been received and transferred to the Crime Branch at Kamla Market "for a fair and impartial investigation". The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has led the Gen-Z agitation, marched to the Parliament Street police station on Sunday with the complainants. CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das warned officials they would "storm inside" if they were not heard: "The complainant — the victim — is here, along with her lawyers and the rest of us. Why won't they speak to us? We have given them two or three minutes." Rahul Gandhi condemned the alleged police misconduct. The allegations land amid an escalating confrontation. Thousands of young protesters and opposition parties staged demonstrations in Delhi and Mumbai on Sunday — the third consecutive day of protests demanding Kumar's resignation. Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led the Mumbai march calling for the scrapping of the electoral-roll revision; police detained demonstrators across the three days, later releasing many while registering cases against some for violating orders banning mass gatherings in the capital. At the root of the agitation is a nationwide voter-verification exercise that critics say has removed millions of eligible voters from the rolls in ways that favour the BJP — a charge the Election Commission and the government deny. Pressure on Kumar intensified last month after the Indian Express reported that the election chief's own two deputies had formally raised concerns at least 14 times over the past 10 months about voter-list revisions, registration procedures and the commission's digital systems. What began as a dispute over the voter rolls is now a test of how the state treats its citizens in the street — and the women who document it.