Prabhakar Chaudhary, senior superintendent of police, Varanasi, said the police used mild force to disperse the crowd, which numbered around a hundred, but denied that any woman had been mistreated. Afreen Begum, a middle-aged protester, told local reporters the force not only used batons but also pelted them with stones. “The police injured many women and children. Some men have been detained for breach of peace.”Varanasi district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said cases would be registered against the women too. “We are trying to identify the protesters with the help of video footage and will take action against them.”

Source: The Telegraph January 23, 2020 21:33 UTC