Washington: The young man had barely gotten inside the gate of a house near the Jamia Millia Islamia University campus in New Delhi on Sunday when a group of police in riot gear dragged him out by his coat collar. "Come, come," one of the police officers can be heard shouting in a video of the incident. "Bring him out!"

The cops then whacked him with their batons, taking turns raising them like baseball bats as he curled up on the ground.

Policewomen detain youth during a protest against a new citizenship law in Ahmadabad, India on Monday. Credit:AP

But within a few seconds, five young women came running to his aid, forming a human shield around him as the police continued to jab at him with their sticks.

As one of the women lay on top of the man to protect him from the blows, another stood up to confront the police, wagging her index finger and screaming at them as they raised their batons again. "You won't do anything!" she can be heard shouting in Hindi. Another woman called out, "We are not doing anything!"