Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Oct 17: Four members of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) from Kerala have alleged that they were assaulted by Delhi Police personnel and subjected to inhuman treatment while being detained during a protest in the national capital on Friday.
Sivapriya Pradeep, Isha Harris Mariam, Sanoop Devadas and Akshay Radhakrishnan had travelled to Delhi on Thursday to participate in the protest. Sivapriya, Isha and Sanoop are CJP's south zone coordinators, while Akshay is an actor and a party member.
According to Sivapriya, the protesters were initially sitting peacefully on the road when police personnel asked them to move to the roadside. Although they complied, the police allegedly began pushing them forcefully.
The protesters subsequently formed a human chain, with women standing at the front, to resist the police action. However, the police continued attempting to remove them, she alleged.
Sivapriya claimed that the protesters were dragged into a police bus even after 6 pm, the deadline for detaining women protesters. She further alleged that women police personnel were not deployed to handle the women protesters.
“My friend Isha was pushed into the bus, clutching her stomach. Sanoop was brutally stamped on his private parts. I was pulled by my hair and pushed inside,” she said.
The protesters alleged that they were subsequently taken in the bus to a location on the outskirts of Delhi, where they were detained for around two hours.
Recounting their experience, Sivapriya said a woman protester who wanted to use the washroom was allegedly told by police personnel to relieve herself inside the bus. The woman later fainted, she claimed.
The protesters said they eventually broke open the bus's emergency door to get out. They alleged that they were then left stranded at the location without access to a nearby metro station or other transport facilities.
The group was reportedly trying to find a way to return from the isolated location amid concerns that they could be detained again.
The allegations were made by the protesters. An official response from the Delhi Police was not included in the account.