Cops Break Windows Of Mahindra Scorpio, Tata Nexon On Flooded Road: Here's Why (Video)

Last week, we came across reports about protests outside the Rajasthan University campus. Tensions erupted between NSUI activists and RSS volunteers, and in order to bring things under control, police forces were deployed in the region. Police had used force to disperse the groups from the spot, and a video of the same has now gone viral on the internet. In the video, we see police officers breaking windows and windshields of cars that were used by the student leaders.

The video has been shared by Reporter Sahab on their X profile. It looks like it was raining heavily in Rajasthan when the protest was organised. By the time police reached the spot, the roads had started waterlogging, and we can clearly see the same in the video too.

We see a group of police officers running after a Tata Nexon, which is likely to be owned by a student leader. The officers are seen smashing the rear windshield of the Nexon with the lathis they had. They were using force to make the activists go away.

Apart from the Nexon, the officers also smashed the windows of a Mahindra Scorpio SUV that was present at the spot. If you watch the video carefully, you would realise that the cars were already leaving the spot, and the cops were vandalising vehicles that were already on the move.

We can clearly see that the officers were aiming at the windshields with the intention to damage the vehicles. The windshields were broken and, as it was raining, the water would have easily entered the cars and damaged the interiors too. In the video, we can hear an activist mention that this was a state government-sponsored attack on students, and he calls the officers gundas wearing the uniform of the police department.

The right to protest is actually a fundamental right in India under Article 19 of the Constitution. While citizens have the right to conduct peaceful protests, the cops can ask them to disperse in case there is a possibility of the protest turning violent. They can, in fact, use force to make sure that the situation doesn’t get worse.

However, in none of these cases do the cops on duty have the right to damage citizens’ property. While they have the authority to use force to control an unlawful assembly, this power is not unlimited and does not include the right to arbitrarily damage property.

In fact, the police have a general duty to uphold and enforce the law, which includes protecting public property. In this case, we understand that the cops were called to ensure that the protest didn’t turn violent, but if you watch the video, it looks like the cops were the ones who started the violence.

Unjustified damage to private property, like cars during a lathi charge, is a violation of this duty. Police personnel who commit misconduct, including the wilful breach of regulations, can be held liable under provisions like Section 29 of the Indian Police Act, 1861. In cases of serious abuse that violate human rights, the state can be held liable to pay monetary compensation to the victims.