Four men were arrested after a video allegedly showing them assaulting young protesters, including a girl, during the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi’s Connaught Place on October 10 went viral on social media.
The footage captures a violent physical altercation near a roadside iron fence. A man wearing a white shirt is seen shoving and kicking a young boy, while two other men appear to pin a young girl against the fence and repeatedly punch her. As the girl attempts to break free and runs towards the road, one of the men grabs her by her T-shirt and pulls her to the ground. The two men continue to punch the girl while she is lying on the road.
The man in the white shirt, who had earlier been seen attacking the boy, then joins in.
The video came to their attention after it surfaced on social media on Saturday, according to the police. At one point, the man in the white shirt calls over a police officer deployed at the scene. However, he resumes assaulting the protesters in the officer’s presence. They subsequently took cognisance of the incident and arrested four men. Police added that no formal complaint had been filed in connection with the incident and that legal proceedings were underway. CJP alleges RSS-BJP workers attacked protesters, questions police response The incident prompted a strong reaction from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which accused BJP-RSS workers of assaulting a young woman during a peaceful protest in the presence of Delhi Police personnel.
In a social media post, the party termed the footage “deeply disturbing” and raised questions about the conduct of the police personnel who were present at the scene. “BJP-RSS goons beating a young girl in the presence of Delhi Police, with an officer seemingly guiding them to stop the recording,” the party said. The CJP also questioned why Delhi Police personnel were allegedly aiding the attackers rather than safeguarding peaceful demonstrators, and demanded to know who had granted them a “free hand” to act.
