Indian police accused of sexual harassment against journalists at protest
The allegations were made after police detained dozens of protesters demanding the resignation of the election chief over changes to voter rolls.
Indian police accused of sexual harassment against journalists at protest
Young people have been demonstrating against sweeping changes to voter rolls by the Election Commission.
Three female journalists have accused police officers in India of sexually harassing them during street protests in the capital, Delhi.
The allegations were made on Saturday after the force detained scores of young people demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Delhi and Mumbai for a third straight day on Sunday, calling on Gyanesh Kumar to step down over the large-scale changes to voter rolls.
In a social media post, Delhi Police said its New Delhi District had received the complaint and that it had been sent to its crime branch for a "fair and impartial" inquiry.
The Election Commission says the exercise is meant to remove duplicate and ineligible entries, and so far 130 million names have been removed from the voters' list.
Videos online show people being physically dragged away from the Jantar Mantar protest site in central Delhi.
The women journalists' accusations include inappropriate touching by some police.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said women fear for their safety and that the home ministry must "answer for this".
"Police dragged me by my hair," Aahna Singh, an activist and student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Reuters news agency during the protests.
She said the police were using "brutality".
The protesters say the voter-roll revision will benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Election Commission says the exercise is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
The protesters have included supporters of the influential Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began as an online satirical movement.
The pressure group recorded its first major victory in July when it forced the then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign after weeks of protests demanding education reforms.
The disagreements were reported to be mainly over the controversial revision of the country's electoral rolls known as the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, which began last year.
The Election Commission has defended its methods and said in a statement that "differing views" were part of the "decision-making process" and that all decisions were taken unanimously.
But the revelations triggered a furore, with opposition leaders demanding Kumar's resignation.