The October protests in Delhi began as a demand for electoral accountability. But they have since become inseparable from the not-so-sudden but rather unruly assertion of women’s right to occupy public spaces and, more importantly, to do so on their own terms.

The protests against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a broken election system segued and branched off into a parallel mobilisation against sexual violence and for women’s safety in the capital. The resulting movement didn’t separate the right to vote from the right to walk home, protest, laugh, dress however or simply be angry.

This ‘femininomenon’ (borrowing from Chappell Roan’s 2022 hit) became a cultural event in its own right. Delhi’s streets brought together women, queer and non-binary people, students, journalists and first-time voters who were tired of being overlooked.

The protests began with demands for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise that has seen some 13 crore voters struck off the electoral rolls. But when protesters gathered in Delhi on 3 October, allegations surfaced of sexual assault on three women journalists.

The crackdown peaked over the weekend of 10–11 October, when Delhi Police detained thousands and heavily barricaded Jantar Mantar, citing orders under Section 163 of the new-fangled penal code BNSS.

This round of protests was more overtly gendered than Jantar Mantar 1.0, which led to the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. A journalist accused Delhi Police ACP Vivek Bhagat of assaulting her while trying to detain her during the protests. Bizarrely, what followed the day after she made this charge was the release of a promotion order for Bhagat. Small mercy that it was later........

© National Herald