A Mumbai police constable has been removed from his current posting after a viral video showed him allegedly threatening a group of detained student protesters with a fabricated drugs case.
The video triggered an internal police inquiry and a political row over the handling of ongoing student demonstrations in the city.
The video, posted by the Mumbai unit of the Congress on its X handle, shows a group of young protesters seated inside a police van after apparently being picked up from a protest site.
A policeman seated in front is heard warning them against returning to demonstrate again, telling them their lives would be ruined if they were seen at a protest site once more. He is further heard threatening to plant narcotics in their bags to ensure they would face a lifetime in jail, before adding that their protests had made things difficult for him.
Mumbai Police said they have taken serious note of the video and launched an inquiry into its authenticity and the circumstances surrounding it.
The uniformed officer seen driving the van has been moved out of his current posting pending the outcome of the investigation, with officials saying further action would depend on the inquiry's findings, NDTV reported.
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The video surfaces amid a wave of student-led protests across Mumbai in recent days, including at Shivaji Park, Chembur and Azad Maidan, organised under the banner of the online platform Cockroach Janta Party.
Sharing the clip, the Mumbai Congress said that if the claims were true, it amounted to more than intimidation and represented a direct assault on democratic rights, adding that students raising their voice was not a crime and that their questions deserved accountability, not threats.
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