Accountability for Abuse of Power and Sexual Harassment of Women & Girls in Delhi Protests
The Issue
We, the women’s rights organizations, networks and individuals working on women’s rights all over India, express our profound outrage at the disturbing visual documentation and reports of women and young girls being subjected to inappropriate physical contact, sexual harassment and violence during protests in Delhi. The incidents documented during the July 2026 protests and the disturbing developments surrounding the protests on 10 and 11 October demand urgent investigation and a clear public response from the authorities.
The videos circulated during the July crackdown, including documentation by Akash Banerjee of The Deshbhakt, raised deeply troubling questions about the conduct of police personnel and the presence of men in civilian clothing who allegedly assaulted protesters in the presence of the police. Reporting by The Quint and The Indian Express also documented allegations of police brutality, the use of excessive force against women protesters, and a video that appeared to show a senior police officer slapping a woman protester. These incidents cannot be dismissed as isolated moments of disorder when they raise fundamental questions about the use of state power.
The concerns have acquired renewed urgency in October. On 3 October, three women journalists alleged sexual harassment by Delhi Police personnel while covering a protest at Jantar Mantar. Their complaints were referred to the Crime Branch, and on 8 October the National Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance and sought a detailed report from the Delhi Police Commissioner. The subsequent protests on 10 and 11 October, and the visual documentation emerging from them, demand that the authorities address not merely crowd control but also the safety and dignity of women in police custody and during physical detention.
These allegations must be investigated fairly and independently. But the seriousness of the concerns cannot be evaded while investigations are pending.
Police represent power. That power must be accountable.
Police personnel exercise the authority of the state, backed by law, institutional power and the capacity to detain, restrain and use force. Their conduct therefore carries a responsibility that goes beyond ordinary standards of personal behaviour.
When a police officer deliberately touches a woman's intimate parts, uses physical contact to intimidate or humiliate her, or handles her body in a sexually inappropriate manner, this is not legitimate crowd control. It is a potential violation of her bodily autonomy and dignity that demands investigation and accountability.
The presence of male civilians who allegedly physically and sexually assault and abuse women in front of police personnel raises an equally disturbing question: why are those responsible for maintaining law and order unable or unwilling to prevent such conduct? If people in civilian clothing are participating in the physical assault of protesters, their identity, role, authority and relationship, if any, with law enforcement must be established.
The uniform cannot become a shield for misconduct, and the presence of police cannot become a licence for others to commit violence with impunity.
We are particularly concerned about the assumption that the deployment of women police personnel automatically makes the physical handling of women protesters appropriate. It does not. A woman police officer can also misuse authority, employ unnecessary force, or touch and restrain a woman in an inappropriate or humiliating manner. The gender of the person exercising power does not determine whether the conduct is lawful, necessary, proportionate or respectful of bodily autonomy.
The relevant questions are: Was the physical contact necessary? Was it authorized by law? Was it proportionate to the situation? Was the woman's dignity respected? Was the force used only to the extent necessary? Was there any sexualized, punitive or deliberately humiliating element to the conduct?
These standards must apply to every police officer, irrespective of gender or rank. The deployment of women personnel cannot serve as a blanket justification for conduct that would otherwise be unacceptable.
Nor can the act of detaining a protester justify indiscriminate grabbing, groping, pulling at intimate parts of the body, or any other unnecessary and degrading physical contact. Where restraint is required, it must follow clear, lawful procedures and remain subject to scrutiny.
The wider context makes these incidents especially alarming. According to the National Crime Records Bureau's Crime in India 2023, India recorded 29,670 registered rape cases and 83,891 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage modesty. Delhi recorded 1,088 registered rape cases, the highest among metropolitan cities covered by the report.
These figures represent registered cases, not the full extent of sexual violence. They nevertheless illustrate the scale of the challenge faced by women and girls. The question is not simply whether individual perpetrators can be identified. It is whether we are confronting a social and institutional mindset in which women's bodies can be treated as objects of control, intimidation or humiliation.
Women who protest, challenge authority, document police action or assert their democratic rights must not be subjected to sexual harassment or degrading treatment as a means of silencing them. Such conduct reinforces precisely the fear and inequality that public institutions are duty-bound to challenge.
When alleged sexual misconduct occurs in public, in front of cameras, and in the presence of other officers, it raises grave concerns about deterrence, accountability and the institutional culture surrounding the exercise of authority.
We demand clear answers and enforceable safeguards. We call upon the Delhi Police Commissioner, the Union Home Ministry, the Supreme Court and the National Commission for Women to:
1. Conduct immediate, independent, time-bound investigations. Investigate the allegations and available visual evidence relating to the July protests and the protests of 3, 10 and 11 October. Preserve original videos, CCTV recordings, body-camera footage, deployment records and other relevant evidence.
2. Establish individual accountability. Identify all police personnel and civilians involved in alleged sexual harassment, assault or inappropriate physical handling. Where evidence establishes misconduct, initiate appropriate criminal and disciplinary proceedings.
3. Publish clear protocols for dealing with protesters. The Delhi Police must explain publicly what procedures govern the detention, restraint, searching and transportation of women protesters; what physical contact is permitted; what safeguards apply during arrests and crowd dispersal; and how allegations of sexual misconduct are to be reported and investigated. They must wear their badges with names and designations. The protocol must also establish measures in dealing with minor protestors particularly girls.
4. Ensure independent complaint mechanisms and protection for survivors. Women protesters and journalists must be able to report misconduct without intimidation, retaliation or pressure to withdraw complaints. Their privacy and dignity must be protected throughout the process.
5. Explain the action taken in response to earlier incidents. Provide a public account of the investigations, disciplinary measures, safeguards and corrective steps arising from the July crackdown. Repeated concerns require more than isolated administrative responses.
The state must demonstrate that it can be trusted to protect women.
The right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and the dignity of every person must be respected even when public authorities face a difficult law-and-order situation. Maintaining order cannot mean abandoning the rights of those being restrained.
We expect the Delhi Police and the Union Home Ministry to explain, in clear and unambiguous terms, how police personnel are expected to deal with protesters, particularly women and girls, and how violations of these standards will be prevented and punished.
This is not a demand for special treatment. It is a demand that the law, institutional power and the authority of the state be exercised within clear boundaries and with accountability.
A woman does not lose her bodily autonomy when she becomes a protester. A police officer or any civilian does not acquire the right to touch her inappropriately by virtue of wearing a uniform or abusing and harassing women/girls in front of police.
We refuse to normalize sexual harassment, degrading physical treatment or the misuse of authority in public spaces. We demand a transparent investigation, enforceable safeguards and a public response that addresses both the specific allegations and the institutional failures they may reveal.
The credibility of the police depends not on their ability to clear streets or disperse crowds, but on their ability to uphold the law, protect the public and remain accountable for their own conduct.
We look forward to an urgent and substantive response.
Yours sincerely,
902
The Issue
We, the women’s rights organizations, networks and individuals working on women’s rights all over India, express our profound outrage at the disturbing visual documentation and reports of women and young girls being subjected to inappropriate physical contact, sexual harassment and violence during protests in Delhi. The incidents documented during the July 2026 protests and the disturbing developments surrounding the protests on 10 and 11 October demand urgent investigation and a clear public response from the authorities.
The videos circulated during the July crackdown, including documentation by Akash Banerjee of The Deshbhakt, raised deeply troubling questions about the conduct of police personnel and the presence of men in civilian clothing who allegedly assaulted protesters in the presence of the police. Reporting by The Quint and The Indian Express also documented allegations of police brutality, the use of excessive force against women protesters, and a video that appeared to show a senior police officer slapping a woman protester. These incidents cannot be dismissed as isolated moments of disorder when they raise fundamental questions about the use of state power.
The concerns have acquired renewed urgency in October. On 3 October, three women journalists alleged sexual harassment by Delhi Police personnel while covering a protest at Jantar Mantar. Their complaints were referred to the Crime Branch, and on 8 October the National Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance and sought a detailed report from the Delhi Police Commissioner. The subsequent protests on 10 and 11 October, and the visual documentation emerging from them, demand that the authorities address not merely crowd control but also the safety and dignity of women in police custody and during physical detention.
These allegations must be investigated fairly and independently. But the seriousness of the concerns cannot be evaded while investigations are pending.
Police represent power. That power must be accountable.
Police personnel exercise the authority of the state, backed by law, institutional power and the capacity to detain, restrain and use force. Their conduct therefore carries a responsibility that goes beyond ordinary standards of personal behaviour.
When a police officer deliberately touches a woman's intimate parts, uses physical contact to intimidate or humiliate her, or handles her body in a sexually inappropriate manner, this is not legitimate crowd control. It is a potential violation of her bodily autonomy and dignity that demands investigation and accountability.
The presence of male civilians who allegedly physically and sexually assault and abuse women in front of police personnel raises an equally disturbing question: why are those responsible for maintaining law and order unable or unwilling to prevent such conduct? If people in civilian clothing are participating in the physical assault of protesters, their identity, role, authority and relationship, if any, with law enforcement must be established.
The uniform cannot become a shield for misconduct, and the presence of police cannot become a licence for others to commit violence with impunity.
We are particularly concerned about the assumption that the deployment of women police personnel automatically makes the physical handling of women protesters appropriate. It does not. A woman police officer can also misuse authority, employ unnecessary force, or touch and restrain a woman in an inappropriate or humiliating manner. The gender of the person exercising power does not determine whether the conduct is lawful, necessary, proportionate or respectful of bodily autonomy.
The relevant questions are: Was the physical contact necessary? Was it authorized by law? Was it proportionate to the situation? Was the woman's dignity respected? Was the force used only to the extent necessary? Was there any sexualized, punitive or deliberately humiliating element to the conduct?
These standards must apply to every police officer, irrespective of gender or rank. The deployment of women personnel cannot serve as a blanket justification for conduct that would otherwise be unacceptable.
Nor can the act of detaining a protester justify indiscriminate grabbing, groping, pulling at intimate parts of the body, or any other unnecessary and degrading physical contact. Where restraint is required, it must follow clear, lawful procedures and remain subject to scrutiny.
The wider context makes these incidents especially alarming. According to the National Crime Records Bureau's Crime in India 2023, India recorded 29,670 registered rape cases and 83,891 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage modesty. Delhi recorded 1,088 registered rape cases, the highest among metropolitan cities covered by the report.
These figures represent registered cases, not the full extent of sexual violence. They nevertheless illustrate the scale of the challenge faced by women and girls. The question is not simply whether individual perpetrators can be identified. It is whether we are confronting a social and institutional mindset in which women's bodies can be treated as objects of control, intimidation or humiliation.
Women who protest, challenge authority, document police action or assert their democratic rights must not be subjected to sexual harassment or degrading treatment as a means of silencing them. Such conduct reinforces precisely the fear and inequality that public institutions are duty-bound to challenge.
When alleged sexual misconduct occurs in public, in front of cameras, and in the presence of other officers, it raises grave concerns about deterrence, accountability and the institutional culture surrounding the exercise of authority.
We demand clear answers and enforceable safeguards. We call upon the Delhi Police Commissioner, the Union Home Ministry, the Supreme Court and the National Commission for Women to:
1. Conduct immediate, independent, time-bound investigations. Investigate the allegations and available visual evidence relating to the July protests and the protests of 3, 10 and 11 October. Preserve original videos, CCTV recordings, body-camera footage, deployment records and other relevant evidence.
2. Establish individual accountability. Identify all police personnel and civilians involved in alleged sexual harassment, assault or inappropriate physical handling. Where evidence establishes misconduct, initiate appropriate criminal and disciplinary proceedings.
3. Publish clear protocols for dealing with protesters. The Delhi Police must explain publicly what procedures govern the detention, restraint, searching and transportation of women protesters; what physical contact is permitted; what safeguards apply during arrests and crowd dispersal; and how allegations of sexual misconduct are to be reported and investigated. They must wear their badges with names and designations. The protocol must also establish measures in dealing with minor protestors particularly girls.
4. Ensure independent complaint mechanisms and protection for survivors. Women protesters and journalists must be able to report misconduct without intimidation, retaliation or pressure to withdraw complaints. Their privacy and dignity must be protected throughout the process.
5. Explain the action taken in response to earlier incidents. Provide a public account of the investigations, disciplinary measures, safeguards and corrective steps arising from the July crackdown. Repeated concerns require more than isolated administrative responses.
The state must demonstrate that it can be trusted to protect women.
The right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and the dignity of every person must be respected even when public authorities face a difficult law-and-order situation. Maintaining order cannot mean abandoning the rights of those being restrained.
We expect the Delhi Police and the Union Home Ministry to explain, in clear and unambiguous terms, how police personnel are expected to deal with protesters, particularly women and girls, and how violations of these standards will be prevented and punished.
This is not a demand for special treatment. It is a demand that the law, institutional power and the authority of the state be exercised within clear boundaries and with accountability.
A woman does not lose her bodily autonomy when she becomes a protester. A police officer or any civilian does not acquire the right to touch her inappropriately by virtue of wearing a uniform or abusing and harassing women/girls in front of police.
We refuse to normalize sexual harassment, degrading physical treatment or the misuse of authority in public spaces. We demand a transparent investigation, enforceable safeguards and a public response that addresses both the specific allegations and the institutional failures they may reveal.
The credibility of the police depends not on their ability to clear streets or disperse crowds, but on their ability to uphold the law, protect the public and remain accountable for their own conduct.
We look forward to an urgent and substantive response.
Yours sincerely,
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Petition created on 12 October 2026