New Delhi: A woman police constable in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, pending an inquiry, has been sent to police lines — seen as a punishment posting — after a video of her flaunting a revolver in uniform went viral.
Constable Priyanka Misra seemingly shot the video inside a police station and posted it on social media. In the clip, she is seen lip-syncing to a dialogue — spoken by a male in Hindi — that appears to laud what is described as UP’s culture of “rangbaazi (show-off)”. The speaker seeks to compare UP’s perceived notoriety with that of Punjab and Haryana, before suggesting that children as young as five years old have access to guns in the state.
“Haryana, Punjab toh bekaar hi badnaam hai. Aao kabhi Uttar Pradesh. Rangbaazi kya hoti hai hum tumhe batate hain… naa gunday pe gaana banaate hain, naa gaadi pe Jat-Gujjar likhaate hain. Humare yahaan 5-5 saal ke launde katta chalaate hain (Haryana and Punjab unnecessarily have a bad name… Come to UP. Neither do we glorify crime with songs, nor do we display our caste on our cars. In UP, kids as young as five know how to use guns),” the dialogue goes.
The exact origin of the dialogue couldn’t be determined but the video has a Russian song playing in the background. The same audio — the same dialogue, set against the same song — has also been used in other reels posted online.
The constable was posted at Agra’s MM Gate police station.
Speaking to ThePrint, Agra Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muniraj G. said Misra has been sent to police lines till the inquiry against her is completed.
“Her behaviour has violated the code of conduct followed by us. We took cognisance when the video came to our notice three days ago. She has been sent to police lines till we have the inquiry report,” the SSP added. “Departmental action will be taken against her after we have the report.”
The officer said the constable had shot the video in a police station storeroom and had used one of the revolvers from the stock there.
The constable had first posted the video on her Instagram account but it has now been deleted.
Her account on the social media website is replete with reels as well as photos of her in uniform. In one of the videos, she can be seen lip-syncing to the same dialogue and music but without the revolver.
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Social media guidelines
Since 2018, the UP Police have set strict rules governing personnel’s social media activity.
According to a report in Business Standard, a set of 17 social media guidelines were issued at the time. The guidelines require police personnel to, among other things, “issue a disclaimer on social media that the views expressed by them were their personal opinion and not representing the department… [and] not upload photographs featuring their uniform/accessory or arms”.
The fact that the force is required to follow the guidelines was confirmed to ThePrint by Muniraj.
Social media conduct deemed unseemly for police personnel has invited action in other states too.
In 2019, two Gujarat Police constables were suspended after they allegedly created and uploaded a TikTok video with a police van while on duty. In Andhra Pradesh, a constable was suspended the same year, again for an alleged TikTok video.
Earlier this year, two Delhi Police personnel were served a show cause notice for reportedly making videos for social media while on duty.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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