Mumbai: A viral video from a students’ protest in Mumbai, allegedly showing a Mumbai police officer groping a female protester, has triggered outrage and drawn political attacks.
The video, filmed during a protest in the Dadar area of Mumbai, shows a police officer in plain clothes grabbing and dragging a woman protester in an objectionable manner.
The clip, posted by Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad, has sparked strong reactions and raised questions over the conduct of Mumbai Police. Calling the officer’s actions “unacceptable,” Gaikwad demanded action against him.
“What is this behaviour, Mumbai Police? Why is a male cop manhandling a young female protestor like this? Why isn’t he letting his female colleagues handle this? What action will be taken against him? This is unacceptable,” she posted, tagging Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in her X post.
Mumbai Police, however, has defended the officer, claiming the video is being presented in an irresponsible manner. Responding to Gaikwad’s post, the force said the officer was attempting to drag a male protester to the side when the woman came in between them.
Mumbai Police further stated that the officer was looking in the opposite direction when the woman protester came into contact with him. The force added that senior officers reviewed the video and found nothing wrong with the officer’s conduct.
Mumbai Police’s claims notwithstanding, a look at the video shows the officer in plain clothes charging at a group of protesters. He appears to try to get hold of a male protester, but in the commotion, lays hands on a woman instead. While the initial part of the video shows the officer looking the other way while grabbing the woman protester, in the later part he is clearly looking at her while grabbing and dragging her though he does not remove his hands from her, the video shows.
NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar hit back at Mumbai Police following its defence of the officer.
“Why did the police officer not back off after realising that he had grabbed a woman instead of a male protester? He didn’t remove his hand even after seeing that he was holding a woman in the wrong way,” he posted on X, dismissing Mumbai Police’s explanation.
The incident marks the second in two days in which Mumbai Police’s conduct has come under scrutiny. On Thursday, Mumbai Police suspended a police personnel who was caught on video threatening detained protesters with a fake drug case.