 "Video of Mumbai Police beating couple goes viral; FIR filed against cops")
An FIR has been lodged against the constables of the Andheri Police station after a video went viral in which the men in uniform were seen abusing and beating a young couple.
Ghulam Maqbool Sheikh, an eyewitness to the brutality, said the woman was slapped repeatedly by the cops until she was bleeding.
"The couple was fighting outside the police station when a constable asked the girl if she was being harassed. She said it was a personal matter and did not want any interference by the cops, nevertheless they were taken inside the police station," Sheikh told ANI.
The boy and the girl were made to sit separately and after a while she got scared and started creating a commotion which is when the cops started slapping her.
"She asked her friend to help her and when he came forward the police did not spare him as well and beat him up badly. The woman kept screaming for mercy but to no avail," the eyewitness added.
Sheikh, who works for an NGO, filmed the entire incident on camera and demanded action against the cops.
"We are going to file an FIR against the cops involved in the attack on my clients at the Andheri Police station at 12:30 a.m on November 2nd. The couple were thrashed by the cops including the woman constable and were also illegally detained in the lock-up. They were also taken to the hospital for an illegal medical examination and we have the certificate as proof," Nitin Satpute, the lawyer of the complainant told ANI.
Satpute asserted that the video was used as leverage against the cops, who had vehemently refused to file the FIR saying it would lower the image of the Mumbai Police.
Andheri Police, however, rubbished the charge saying that the duo were in an inebriated condition and had a scuffle with each other on night of November 1 and that the police only tried to pacify them.
"The couple were under heavy influence of alcohol and were fighting with each other on the road near Andheri Metro Station. They were then brought to the police station but the two again picked up a scuffle. Police just did the duty to separate them while they were fighting," Senior Inspector, Andheri Police Station, Nandkumar Dhumal said.
He said the man was trying to get hold of the woman while the cops tried to restrain him and the video was shot at that particular moment.
The clip has been recorded to besmirch the reputation of the police, Dhumal claimed.
An inquiry has been initiated in the matter, he added.
No case was lodged against the couple and their parents were called to the police station. The duo were later released after a warning, he said, adding that a station-house diary was made and statements of the couple were recorded.
According to the police, the woman is a resident of suburban Nalasopara while the man lives in Byculla in South Mumbai. They worked at a call centre in Malad area.
This is the second instance in a month where the Mumbai cops have come under the scanner for their brutality.
Earlier, two Muslim youth were told to go to Pakistan by a police constable inside the Bandra police station before being brutally assaulted in custody.
