NEET protest: Mumbai police under fire over misconduct with woman protester
Opposition leaders demand action against officer after viral video
Mumbai: Mumbai Police has come under sharp criticism after a viral video showed a plainclothes police officer inappropriately handling a female protester during a demonstration against NEET paper leak in the BJP-ruled state of Maharashtra.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the incident occurred during demonstrations at Shivaji Park in Dadar, where students and activists had gathered to demand the resignation of Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over NEET examination irregularities. Police dispersed the demonstrators by force, with reports suggesting that several protesters fainted during the crackdown.
The woman protester said that the police official deliberately mishandled and misbehaved with her during the operation. However, no case has been registered against the officer till filing of this report.
The incident triggered widespread outrage, with opposition leaders and social media users demanding strict action against the officer for outraging the modesty of a woman.
Mumbai Congress President and Lok Sabha member Varsha Gaikwad, sharing the viral video on X, questioned why male police personnel had been deployed to handle female demonstrators instead of women officers.
Describing the incident as deeply painful, she said it was shameful that women protesters were allegedly being mistreated in Maharashtra. She also said that the authorities were filing false cases against students and intimidating them, while criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for remaining silent over the police action.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) legislator Rohit Pawar demanded the immediate suspension and arrest of the officer seen in the video. “This video is infuriating. Register a case of outraging the modesty of a woman against him and put him behind bars. He is a blot on the Maharashtra Police,” Pawar stated.
The video was widely circulated on social media, with many users criticizing the authorities for shielding the officer despite visual evidence of the misconduct.
Meanwhile, protests over the NEET paper leak and police action against demonstrators continued in several parts of India. Demonstrations were held in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protests in New Delhi, where students and youth have been demanding accountability over examination irregularities and condemning the use of force against peaceful protesters.
