Police or moral police? Incidents when Indian cops misused their power and made headlines

Cases of assault by the so-called guardians of the society are not uncommon in India. Assault on youngsters has become rampant in the country, but when it comes to the real 'guardians' of the people i.e. the police, it becomes a topic of worry.

The viral video from Punjab wherein a woman constable can be seen slapping a girl at least 3-4 times and dragging her has angered netizens. The video shows that the girl had a backpack which explains that she was just a student.

Watch video here:

In another video, the women constables explained that they had been receiving complaints from local residents about the activities of the youth in the public park, which is why they took this step.

"These boys and girls from schools and colleges spend bunk and spend their time here in the park. We catch them daily doing wrong things here in the public park," one of the officers said.

According to information received, the female constables interrogated and slapped young boys and girls sitting in a park after their IELTS classes in Batala.

Taking cognizance of the viral video from Batala of Gurdaspur district, DGP of Punjab Police Gorav Yadav has transferred the concerned female police officers. Along with this, a departmental inquiry into the entire matter has been started.

Two such incidents were reported in recent times when the authorities misused their powers.

As per a report in the Indian Express, in a similar incident from Coimbatore, on September 21, 2022, the city police conducted checks at several locations, especially VOC Park and Valankulam lake bund and evicted people, especially students from the said locations. The incident drew flak from the public, who termed the act as moral policing.

When asked, city Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan said he will inquire about the incident and assured that it will not happen again.

In July 2022, The Hindu carried a similar report wherein a couple alleged moral policing by the Thalassery police. The girl involved in the incident told the media that the police behaved badly when they went to the seashore at night. When the couple questioned the police's behaviour, they were abused.

However, the police's narrative of the story was different. As per the police, Thalassery sub-inspector R. Manu questioned the couple when he spotted them at a deserted place in the middle of the night. The couple argued when he instructed them not to stay late night at the place.