They had gone to protest against the killings of farmers in UP’s Lakhimpur
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Women activists, who went to protest before Union Minister Amit Shah’s residence in New Delhi on Sunday, October 10, against the killings of farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur, have alleged that women police personnel lifted off their kurta to shame them and kicked in their private parts.
A woman, who is associated with student organization AISA (All India Student Associations) wrote on social media about it while women activists condemned the incident and demanded action against those responsible for it.
“The women police first proceeded to lift off my kurta in order to shame me, threw me inside the bus and then kicked my private parts repeatedly for 20 minutes. They did the same thing with …. (Another woman protester) and repeatedly stomped on her right foot to inflict severe pain. They only stopped when I started crying profusely due to the immense pain I’d started feeling inside my vagina,” she wrote.
She also said that their feet and legs were swollen after being severely beaten up. They went through severe pain and asked the police personnel to take them to the hospital. But “we were denied the right to seek urgent medical attention given our injuries and were later threatened with repercussions if we dared to file an FIR”, she said.
According to her, a police personnel even told them ‘we would show you your aukaat (place).’
Prominent woman activist and CPI-ML leader Kavita Krishnan raised the issue through her Twitter handle.
“If police do brutal sexual assault on India’s streets then what do they do in their own premises?” asked Krishnan tagging Delhi police.
. @AmitShah आपके घर के सामने आपकी @DelhiPolice की महिलाओं ने पुरुष पुलिसवालों के सामने छात्राओं के कपड़े उतारे, गुप्तांगों में लात मारा और घायल किया. गृह मंत्री के घर के सामने हुआ यह कांड की सज़ा देश की महिलाएँ देंगी आपको. द्रौपदी पर हंसने वाले आप जैसे दु:शासन ख़बरदार. https://t.co/sgp9RgxeJ3
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) October 11, 2021
Activists also released a “statement of condemnation” of the incident and asked people to sign it.
“We demand that ACP Chanakyapuri, Pragya Anand who clearly instructed the personnel on site to assault the women protestors, be sacked and all the personnel who carried out the sexual assault either as perpetrators or voyeurs be suspended and reprimanded,” reads the statement.
Terming the act of police personnel as “Standard Operating Procedure to Deal with Protesters”, the statement said that such behaviors from the security forces are not an isolated act.
“It is clear to us that these were not isolated acts committed by some rogue Delhi Police personnel. The manner in which the violence was meted out identically to both women, shows that the women personnel have received training and instructions to treat women protestors in this fashion “to show them their place,” noted the statement.
AISA has also called for a protest at the headquarters of Delhi Police which is scheduled to be held Wednesday, October 13.
“What happened on 10th October with women who were part of a protest against the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre of farmers at Amit Shah’s house must not be allowed to be repeated,” said AISA.
What happened on 10th October with women who were the part of a protest against Lakhimpur Kheri massacre of farmers at Amit Shah’s house must not be allowed to be repeated.
Join United Protest at Delhi Police Head Quarter, Ashoka Road on 13th October, 2pm pic.twitter.com/556XnO1uFO
— AISA (@AISA_tweets) October 12, 2021
