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Indian police officers suspended after assault video goes viral

News Desk (Agence France-Presse)
New Delhi, India
Tue, September 25, 2018 Published on Sep. 25, 2018 Published on 2018-09-25T22:38:01+07:00

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Indian police detain a member of the Revolutionary Students Youth Federation (RSYF) during a protest against the razing down of a statue of communist leader Vladimir Lenin on in Belonia town in in the India state of Tripura state, in Chennai on March 7, 2018. India's ruling party warned its supporters on March 6 they were not above the law after a mob celebrating an election victory against communist opponents bulldozed a statue of Vladimir Lenin. Police in the remote state of Tripura said they were investigating more than a dozen complaints of arson, violence and vandalism in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) win at the weekend election.

ARUN SANKAR / AFP Indian police detain a member of the Revolutionary Students Youth Federation (RSYF) during a protest against the razing down of a statue of communist leader Vladimir Lenin on in Belonia town in in the India state of Tripura state, in Chennai on March 7, 2018. India's ruling party warned its supporters on March 6 they were not above the law after a mob celebrating an election victory against communist opponents bulldozed a statue of Vladimir Lenin. Police in the remote state of Tripura said they were investigating more than a dozen complaints of arson, violence and vandalism in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) win at the weekend election. ARUN SANKAR / AFP (AFP/Arun Sankar)

T

hree Indian police officers were suspended Tuesday after footage emerged showing a constable attacking a female student they had accused of socialising with a Muslim man, officials said. 

The video, which has been circulated widely online, shows a female constable repeatedly striking the young student -- who local media report is Hindu -- and berating her for allegedly conducting an interfaith relationship.

Such liaisons can be frowned upon in Hindu-majority India where Muslims make up one-fifth of the population.

Police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the incident occurred, said that the female constable and two other police officials had been suspended pending an inquiry. 

"Their conduct has led to embarrassment for the UP police," a senior police official who did not want to be named, told AFP. 

In recent years Hindu extremists have pushed fears of "love jihad" -- claims that young Muslim men were attempting to seduce Hindu women in order to convert them.

India's police are often criticised for their attitudes towards women, particularly when women come forward to report crimes committed against them.  

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