MUMBAI: Police officer boasts of arresting Dalit activists, transferred after video goes viral

The five minutes 47 second-long video shows the officer sitting with some Maratha activists boasting about how she filed cases under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.
Image used for representational purpose only
Image used for representational purpose only

MUMBAI: A woman IPS officer, who was seen boasting about false cases filed against Dalit activists in a video clip that went viral over social media, was transferred on Monday. 

The woman officer, Bhagyashree Navtake, was Deputy Superintendent of Police in Beed district of Marathwada region. She was transferred to Aurangabad on Monday. In a video that has gone viral over past couple of days, she was seen boasting about how she implicated 21 Dalit activists, who were threatening use of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (POA act), under false cases.

The five minutes 47 second-long video shows the officer sitting with some Maratha activists boasting about how she filed cases under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, or attempt to murder, against Muslims, so that they do not get bail easily. She also boasts about the false cases she filed against Dalit activists.

"I tie the hands and legs of Dalits and take out my anger about [the Atrocities Act] on them," she is heard telling the people who seem to have come to her for advice after being arrested in a case under POA. She further suggested them to file a case under Section 122 of the Indian Penal Code, which is an offence to bear arms without a licence.

Maharashtra police received a lot of flak over Navtake's glaring admission. The video has gone viral just ahead of December 6, death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, which is observed all over Maharashtra and Dalits from across country gather in Mumbai and Nagpur in large numbers. POA act is a topic over which the community is particularly sensitive. The video going viral also coincides with members of Maratha community have started raising voice against the POA act after getting the quota for the community.

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