A constable from the Charminar police station in Hyderabad was suspended on Thursday, a day after a video surfaced, which showed him touching a protesting woman doctor inappropriately.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that the constable, K Parmesh, had been placed under suspension and an inquiry had been ordered in connection with the incident.
The incident took place during a protest on Wednesday, when students of the Government Ayurveda Hospital sat on a dharna outside Government Nizamia General Hospital in Charminar, against the shifting of the hospital to Erragadda.
The hospital is being shifted due to renovation work, but the students said that they were against the decision that was being taken and repeated representations to the Director of AYUSH, Dr Varshini, was in vain.
As they refused to budge, police officials were called to make them disperse and a scuffle ensued. While female personnel were present to handle female doctors, male police personnel were also seen dragging the students.
In the wake of the allegations, Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali also spoke to South Zone DCP Amber Kishore Jha over the phone and ordered for a thorough enquiry and necessary action.
"The home minister also directed the police to deploy women police personnel to handle women in such situations, to avoid such allegations and complaints against the police," a statement from the Home Minister's office said.
The incident had triggered a major row on Thursday, with the Congress party also finding fault with the police for engaging male police personnel to disperse the female doctors.
In a statement, Congress national spokesperson Sravan Dasoju had said that the accused constable’s act was ‘nothing less than sexual harassment’. He demanded that the accused constable be removed from police service, and a criminal case be filed under Section 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC.
(This article was first published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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