NEW DELHI: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader and Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met NSUI protesters who alleged that they were assaulted by Delhi Police during demonstrations. At a press conference, Rahul introduced a woman protester as “our sherni” and said she had remained unafraid despite being beaten.Another protester played ‘Vaishnava Jana To’ on a flute, saying, “nafrat ka jawab pyar se diya jaega…”“I want to introduce our ‘sherni’. She was beaten, but she was not afraid. There was no hatred in her heart,” Rahul said.The woman protester said that a woman police constable, identified as Chanchal Yadav, assaulted her after NSUI workers were detained in buses during a peaceful protest. She said there were around 30-40 protesters in each of the three buses, with two women and 20-30 other NSUI members in her bus.“Yesterday, all NSUI workers were protesting peacefully when we were detained in three buses. There were many of our colleagues, around 30-40 in each bus. In our bus, there were two girls and 20-30 other NSUI colleagues. There was a woman constable in the bus named Chanchal Yadav. After being detained, we tried to get off the bus again through the gate and continue leading the protest. We tried to stop the bus and sat down beneath it so that our protest could somehow continue. But Chanchal Yadav grabbed me tightly by the neck and pushed me, causing me to fall backwards onto the seat. She then scratched my face with her nails, leaving scratches across my face and near my ear. When I resisted her, she slapped me so hard and said, ‘Here, take another slap across your face.’”Rahul also spoke about Athira, a student from Kerala studying at Delhi University, who alleged that she sustained injuries to her ear and eye during the police action.“Athira from Kerala has lost her hearing in one ear. She is deaf in one ear because she was struck on that ear. She can no longer hear. Last time I showed you a boy who was blinded. Now, she is deaf in one ear,” Rahul said.Athira alleged that there were no women police personnel on the bus when the protesters were detained. She said she asked for a woman officer to be present during the detention, after which the bus stopped outside the Connaught Place police station.“I am from Kerala, studying at Delhi University. Yesterday, when they detained us, there were no female police officers in the bus. So, I simply asked, ‘Where is the lady police officer or lady constable?’ If they want to detain us, having at least one female constable present is mandatory. Then, the bus moved and stopped in front of the Connaught Place police station, where they continuously hit my entire cheek. Because of this, I have an injury to my eye and damage to my ear.”Rahul also condemned the five-day judicial custody of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, saying that waving the national flag during a peaceful protest was not a crime.Das and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail on Wednesday for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which was recently de-notified as a designated protest site, police sources said.
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Bail bond formalities for their associate Ajinkya Shinde were being finalised, they added.The three CJP leaders were produced before an Executive Magistrate on Wednesday morning. They had been detained on Tuesday after allegedly breaching barricades and entering the protest site without authorisation while raising slogans demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.Police registered a case against the activists on charges including trespassing, violating prohibitory orders, breaching a peace bond and obstructing a public servant from discharging official duties, sources said. Das and Ranka had signed bonds to maintain peace for a year after being detained during a protest on Saturday, they added.
