DCW notice to police after girl alleges groping by police

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Monday issued notice to Delhi Police on alleged "groping and physical abuse" of a girl student by a male police officer during a protest here.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal, in a notice to Police Commissioner Alok Verma, asked why physical force was used on students protesting the disappearance of Jawaharlal Nehru Student Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing on the night of October 14 after an alleged brawl with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The protesters also included Najeeb's mother.

Maliwal also sought details of a male officer seen "groping" the female complainant in a newspaper clipping and asked Verma what action has been taken against him after the incident.

Maliwal further asked why female officers were not deployed when protesters included female students.

The notice was issued on a complaint filed by the female student who alleged that a male police officer "groped and physically abused" her during a peaceful protest for the missing JNU student at India Gate on Sunday.

"The complainant has informed the Commission that there was no female police person present there at that time and when the girl students objected to this, the policemen abused the students, passed sexist comments and forcefully dragged the girls to a bus which too did not have any female policeperson," the notice said.

The notice includes a photograph published in a newspaper of the police officer apparently grappling with the complainant.

"The photograph has deeply shocked and disturbed the Commission. The blatant manner in which the said policeman has touched the girl is a matter of deep shame for the national capital," Maliwal wrote.

Police on Sunday dragged away the mother of the missing JNU student and around 300 JNU students as they staged noisy protests here to demand that Najeeb be traced.

--IANS

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