Reporter’s Diary from Jantar Mantar: Delhi Police played cat and mouse with protesters

• Women led hours of protests near Jantar Mantar on Sunday, clashing with police, breaking barricades and resisting detention amid heavy security

• Brinda Karat demanded an FIR against an ACP accused of groping a freelance woman journalist, questioning police demands for video evidence

• AISA president Neha Bora was taken away in an unmarked car without a policewoman present and later released from Narela police station; she and other protesters reported injuries and police mistreatment

Tempers were frayed as policewomen and women protesters got into shouting matches. At least six or seven policemen and policewomen would converge on a protester and try to drag her towards one of the waiting buses. They had a hard time with the young protesters, who refused to give an inch. The protesters strained and struggled, kicked and screamed, wriggled out of the buses, broke the windscreen of one bus, and one young woman pulled out the ignition key and escaped.

Delhi Police was once again accused of groping and molesting women. An assistant commissioner of police, accused of groping a freelance woman journalist, was back at Jantar Mantar on Sunday. So were protesters who had made posters of his photograph and taunted Delhi Police for their conduct. CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat was livid. "We are fighting for an FIR to be filed against the ACP. At the police station, the police are demanding video proof. Will girls now carry cameras with them and film their own sexual assault? This is nonsense.’

Retired DU Professor Nivedita Menon, senior advocate Vrinda Grover and transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj also joined in the march towards Jantar Mantar. The approach roads were all barricaded and large contingents of policemen, RAF and CRPF were patrolling the approach roads.

A large number of student activists from AISA, SFI, DYFI, KYS, AISF and Disha joined the march under the Jantar Mantar 2.0 banner. Unlike on 2 and 3 October, police struggled to restrain the protestors or detain them. The march, which began at 3 pm, continued until approximately 6:30 pm, during which the youth repeatedly clashed with the police. They climbed on top of police jeeps and buses, broke barricades, chanted slogans and dared Delhi Police to do their worst. Wardi utaro, Chaddi pahno (discard your uniform and put on knickers associated with the RSS), they mocked Delhi Police. Others followed with slogans, "Ek Kachori, Do Samosa, Delhi Police ka kya bharosa?”

Delhi Police however managed to shove Neha Bora, AISA national president, into an unmarked car and drove away. By the time protestors rushed to stop the car, it sped away but not before some protestors took photographs of Bora squeezed in the car between policemen. There were no police woman in the car. Late in the evening she was released from the Narela police station on the outskirts of Delhi. ‘Under what law did Delhi Police whisk her away from the jurisdiction of the Parliament Street PS, I would like to know,” fumed Vrinda Grover.

If the idea was to throw protestors, who had been following Bora the past few days, into disarray, the ploy did not quite work. The protest became even more chaotic with small groups getting into scuffles with policemen and women around Jantar Mantar. Unknown youth began leading the protest, and the police slowly overcame the resistance, often marching alongside the protestors, biding their time and detaining them one by one.

The protestors told each other that even if they couldn't reach Jantar Mantar, it didn't matter; they would go to India Gate instead. However, the police had put up heavy security near the Andhra Bhavan Circle on Ashoka Road. Along with the Delhi Police, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Rapid Action Force were deployed in large numbers. They were also armed with batons and tear gas.

Some protestors staged a sit-in on the road and began shouting slogans. When they were physically lifted and put inside buses, they began shoving the policemen and women inside and escaped. The rear windscreen of one of the buses was broken to allow their escape. Every time a student escaped, the area would erupt with hoots and slogans. On all the three days since 2 October, young women led the protests around Jantar Mantar. From Neha Bora to Mudita of KYS, they had no inhibition in climbing over police barricades and vehicles. They were not afraid of towering and well-built policemen. They did not seem to be afraid of detention.

Neha's body is covered with scratches and bruises, and she herself filmed them. Social media influencer Nishu also shows the injuries on her hands, saying, "The police are treating us like animals. I told them I was a minor, and they said I should study. Then, a female police officer said, 'You don't even know the full form of NEET and CBSE, yet you've come here”. In a late evening video statement, Bora declared, “we may have been treated like dogs, animals and insects; but we are citizens and asking questions is our right”.