Mumbai

Maharashtra Opposition leaders have expressed outrage over a viral video showing a police officer allegedly manhandling a woman protester during a demonstration in Mumbai against the NEET paper leak, demanding strict action against the cop.

Criticising the ruling dispensation, the Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad alleged that protesting students are being threatened and false cases are being filed against them.

Gaikwad shared a video on X reportedly from a protest in Dadar, central Mumbai, in which a policeman in plainclothes can be seen grabbing a woman demonstrator and manhandling her.

"The agitation over the paper leak case is underway. What happened to a young woman during the protest in Mumbai is deeply painful. It is not right to speak of 'Ladki Bahin' and then treat young women in this manner. It is shameful that women are allegedly being mistreated in the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. False cases are being filed against students, and they are being threatened," the Lok Sabha MP wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

In another post on X earlier in the day, the Congress leader questioned the conduct of the police personnel.

"What is this behaviour, Mumbai Police? Why is a male cop manhandling a young female protester like this? Why isn't he letting his female colleagues handle this? What action will be taken against him? This is unacceptable," she said.

She also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue, saying he had posted a video at midnight on Thursday but remained silent when students faced a baton charge.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, who also shared the same protest video on X, demanded strict action against the policeman seen in the clip.

"This video is infuriating. Who is this person? If he is a policeman, suspend him immediately or dismiss him from the police force. 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, a force with a distinguished reputation," Pawar stated.

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Students and activists staged a protest and demanded Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation at the Shivaji Park ground in central Mumbai on Thursday before being chased away by police, with some youths falling.