In a viral video, a policeman in the Indian state of Rajasthan was seen pinning down a man with his knee and beating him up, after he refused to wear a mask. Indian Twitter users have compared it to the recent police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American in the US.
The video of the incident that took place in front of a theatre in the state, on Thursday, was widely shared on Twitter. In the video, the man was also seen hitting two policemen who tried to surround him.
A few moments later, one of the constables was seen kneeling on the man to restrain him and beating him, while the other cop held his arm.
Saying it was a near-repeat of the George Floyd incident in the US that sparked an outrage across the world, @AnkurWadhawan tweeted: “Cop presses his knee against neck of a man in Rajasthan's Jodhpur evoking memories of #GeorgeFloyd incident of #USA. The man, as per police, was not wearing a mask. He has been sent into Judicial Custody. No action taken against cops who manhandled him.”
And, tweep @sdsharmapune added: “I think more training is required how to neutralise a person, or overpower a person doing an offence. This was inhumane. Man was unarmed even then...”
In the Rajasthan incident, the police have claimed that the constables who apprehended the man, Mukesh Kumar Prajapat for not wearing a mask, reacted after being attacked by him.
The cops said that Prajapat started hitting them while they were waiting for a van to take him away, and that he had a history of aggression. "He wasn't wearing a mask and got into a fight with policemen. He even tore their uniform. A case has been registered," said a police officer in Pratap Nagar.
He was produced in court on June 5, and sent to custody on charges of obstructing policemen from doing their duty.