Cop caught on camera slapping a woman at a Ghaziabad police station

Mangalore Today/CNN-IBN

Ghaziabad, May 14, 2013: On camera, a young woman is slapped by a cop and roughed up by other people as more policemen watch. The footage is from inside a Ghaziabad police station. The young woman, the police allege, was found drinking in a parked car last night in a neighbourhood in the Delhi suburb and when confronted, "misbehaved."

The shocked woman held her face as she said, "The cops abused me; they used filthy language. I reacted after that. If someone is abused repeatedly then that person obviously has the right to object." 

The police allege that the woman, a resident of Goa, was spotted last night sitting in the car with a friend from Delhi and drinking alcohol, which is prohibited by law.

There was an altercation and the residents brought the woman and her friend to the Sahibabad police station, a cop said, accusing the woman of having been drunk and abusive with the residents.

"The public noticed and surrounded them; they then misbehaved with them and abused them. They created a scene which is why they were brought to the police station. They are still intoxicated. An inquiry will be carried out," the station house officer said.
 
At the police station, not only did a cop hit her, but the policemen also allegedly encouraged the residents who had brought her in to thrash the woman. The law provides that a woman cannot be detained after sundown and a male cop cannot as much as touch her. They were released on bail later in the night.

Meanwhile, remarks from  Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women Barkha Singh have added to the controversy.

"If police is taking strong steps to bring improvement, we must not critisise it. We should be strict with our children. And if that girl was drunk and to make her understand, police has taken some steps then I don’t think that it is wrong," Ms Singh said.

Last month a senior policeman was suspended after he was filmed slapping a 17-year-old girl who was protesting against the brutal rape of a five-year-old in the capital.