NEW DELHI: Amid continuing protests in the capital against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Delhi Police ACP Arshdeep Singh alleged that senior officers and women personnel deployed for crowd control were being targeted, pushed and abused, describing the alleged conduct as an attempt to “demotivate and demoralise” the force.Speaking about allegations of protesters targeting senior police officers, Singh said personnel, including women staff, were also facing difficulties while trying to maintain law and order.“I would like to say this: a senior police officer once remarked that we, too, could have stayed safely at home; we were also raised by others with great hardship. My point is that protesters often forget—while they are students, we, including our female staff, are someone’s children or daughters too,” he said.
Delhi Police ACP alleges women cops dragged, assaulted
Singh alleged that women police personnel had been dragged into crowds, pushed, manhandled and assaulted while dealing with protesters.“The level of disrespect shown here often involves dragging female staff into the fray. You may have recently seen instances where—amidst the protesters, including those with religious agendas or even drunkards—attempts were made to pull them in; they were pushed, manhandled, and even bitten,” he said.He said senior officers were being specifically targeted because such incidents could affect the morale of the entire force.“As I mentioned earlier, the aim is to target them to demotivate and demoralise the force, causing the entire force to lose morale,” Singh said.
ACP says police officers, families also abused
Singh said officers identifiable by their blue caps or lanyards were sometimes singled out during protests.“Well, look—I wear a blue cap or a blue lanyard. Since everyone knows these signify the rank of a Gazetted Officer (GO), they recognize us. Then, they try to target, push, heckle, and malign us—doing all sorts of things to demotivate us,” he said.He added that police personnel also faced verbal abuse directed at them and their families, while stressing that they were carrying out duties assigned under law.The remarks come amid heightened tensions around protests against Gyanesh Kumar, with Delhi Police recently deploying body-worn cameras among personnel on protest duty to record interactions with protesters and detainees.The protests have also seen allegations of police misconduct, including a video shared by AAP that purportedly showed a Delhi Police personnel punching a detained protester.(With ANI inputs)
