Clips on cops, youth scuffle go viral

The youth was not wearing helmet and was riding triples with his mother and sister. 

The video showed a traffic policeman physically locking the youth’s hands in an electric post, while two other officers are seen twisting his arms. In between, another cop intervenes and tries karate chops on the youth’s hands. When the boy’s mother intervened, she was also pushed aside by the cops. 

Police said that the rider, 21-year-old Prakash of Saligramam who works in an automobile showroom, was triple riding with his mother Sangeetha and sister on his two-wheeler when he was stopped on Usman Road in T Nagar. 

A few videos from multiple sources showed the youth saying he was travelling with his family. The policemen questioned how he could come to T Nagar for shopping if he could not afford an auto-rickshaw to travel. One of them allegedly started taking pictures of his younger sister and mother. 

When Prakash objected the use of certain words by policemen and taking photo of his sister, it resulted in a scuffle during which the youth allegedly caught hold of the sub-inspector by his shirt. Prakash’s mother, who tried to intervene, was also pushed away. Enraged by this, Prakash refused to leave the SI’s shirt and in turn police locked him in an electric post and thrashed him. 

Police claimed that in the scuffle, a star on the SI’s shirt and three buttons on another policeman’s shirt were ripped off. They also added Prakash snatched and threw away a walkie-talkie, damaging it in the process. Meanwhile, Sangeetha has been reportedly admitted at the hospital after a policeman allegedly hit her with the walkie-talkie. 

Reacting to the incident after it created a furore among the public, police claimed that the assault was result of youth’s arrogance. “He had grabbed the policeman by collar and refused to take off his hand. This led to the scuffle,” police claimed, adding that Mambalam police had arrested the youth under the IPC sections, 294 (b) (use of obscene language), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant in the discharge of his duty), 427 (causes loss or damage to property). He was produced before Saidapet 17th magistrate court. However, no action was taken against the police personnel who assaulted the youth.  

Reacting to the incident, a senior police officer said, “The traffic police personnel were just trying to release motorist’s hold on the shirt of one of the policemen, and not assaulting him. But we are conducting an internal inquiry into the incident.” The visuals further tarnished the image of the city traffic police, who were accused of triggering the suicide of a taxi driver on OMR in February this year.