Mumbai Cop Gropes Woman Protester On Camera, Police Defends

A viral video from a students' protest in Mumbai allegedly showing a Mumbai policeman groping a female protester has triggered outrage and political attacks.

The video from 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 video, posted by Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad, has evoked strong reactions and raised questions on the conduct of Mumbai Police.

Calling the officer's actions "unacceptable", Varsha 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.

The Mumbai Police has, however, defended the police officer, claiming that the video is being presented in an irresponsible manner.

Mumbai Police replied to Gaikwad's post saying that the officer seen in the video was trying to drag a male protester to the side when the woman came in between them.

Mumbai Police added that the officer was looking in the opposite direction when the woman protester came in. They also claimed that the video was analysed by senior officers and they found nothing wrong in 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 tries to get hold of a male protester, but in the commotion lays hands on a woman. While in the initial part of the video the officer is seen looking the other way while grabbing the woman protester, in the later part of the video he is clearly looking at the woman while grabbing and dragging her. But he doesn't take his hands off her, the video shows.

NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar hit back at Mumbai Police after their 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, trashing Mumbai Police's explanation.

The video incident is the second in two days where Mumbai Police's conduct has come under the lens.

On Thursday, Mumbai Police suspended one of its personnel who was caught on video threatening detained protesters with a fake drug case.