INDORE: A 35-year-old man was allegedly beaten up by two police constables on the road in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city on Tuesday after a dispute over not wearing a face mask which has been made mandatory in view of the COVID-19 outbreak.
After a video of the alleged incident went viral on social media, both policemen were suspended, an official said.
Police claimed the man first assaulted and abused the constables.
In the video, the two policemen are purportedly seen thrashing the man on the street even as his teenage son and some women beg for mercy.
Superintendent of Police (East) Ashutosh Bagri said the two constables seen in the video have been suspended and a City Superintendent of Police (CSP) has been asked to investigate the matter.
Bagri claimed the victim was not wearing a face mask in public and the policemen stopped him to seek explanation for violating the COVID-19 norm.
The man grabbed the collar of one of the constables and started abusing and assaulting him and his colleagues, the police officer claimed.
"The video of the incident which is going viral on social media has been edited and cropped to tarnish the image of the police," Bagri said.
Another police official said the 35-year-old man seen in the video faces cheating and extortion cases in the city.