The complainant told investigators she would submit video footage after an FIR is registered; police have not yet filed one over her allegations.
Delhi’s Crime Branch summoned for further questioning a journalist who accused Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat of harassment and manhandling during a protest on Oct. 3. She was questioned on Oct. 8, nearly a week after filing her complaint. No FIR has been registered so far in connection with her allegations.
According to the journalist’s lawyer, investigators asked her 25 questions, including about whether she knew the officer and about her work and family. The lawyer said the questioning made the complainant feel as if she were being treated as an accused person. That account is the lawyer’s allegation, not a finding by investigators. The Crime Branch also sought a video held by the journalist and her team. Her lawyer said they would submit it after an FIR is registered.
The legal team asked police to preserve CCTV footage from within 500 metres of the alleged incident near a Mother Dairy booth on Janpath Lane, as well as body-camera footage from officers deployed nearby. The lawyer also questioned why the complaint, initially submitted at Parliament Street police station, was being investigated at the Crime Branch office in Prashant Vihar, and why counselling had not been provided to the complainant.
The journalist alleges Bhagat harassed and shoved her as she filmed the detention of Neha Bora, president of the All India Students’ Association, during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Delhi Police said on Oct. 4 that it had received three complaints of alleged harassment of women journalists and transferred them to the Crime Branch. The National Human Rights Commission separately sought a detailed report from the Delhi Police Commissioner within two weeks.
The journalist herself was detained on Oct. 4 at a protest and again on Oct. 5 outside Parliament Street police station, where she was demanding a case against the officer. An FIR over allegations including use of force to obstruct a public servant, vandalism and unlawful assembly was filed against her and 16 other protesters. The allegations against the officer remain under investigation.