Indian police officers suspended after assault video goes viral

NEW DELHI: Three Indian police officers were suspended on Tuesday after footage emerged showing a constable attacking a female student they had accused of socialising with a Muslim man, officials said.

The video, which has been circulated widely online, shows a female constable repeatedly striking the young student -- who local media report is Hindu -- and berating her for allegedly conducting an interfaith relationship.

Such liaisons can be frowned upon in Hindu-majority India where Muslims make up one-fifth of the population. Police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the incident occurred, said that the female constable and two other police officials had been suspended pending an inquiry.

In recent years Hindu extremists have pushed fears of "love jihad" -- claims that young Muslim men were attempting to seduce Hindu women in order to convert them. India’s police are often criticised for their attitudes towards women, particularly when women come forward to report crimes committed against them.