Srinagar: A video of Kashmir University Vice Chancellor Professor Khurshid Andrabi’s vehicle being stopped while a police officer removes the tinted film from the car’s window, has gone viral on social media.
The video shows Deputy Superintendent of Police Sheikh Aadil stopping the vehicle, checking the requisite paperwork and ultimately ripping the tinted film off the car’s window while Andrabi accuses him of “showing off” in the name of duty. He also says, if he had his police escort with him, things would have happened differently.
“Mr Aadil, you have not gone out of this colonial culture. It is no big deal but… escort agar saath hota tou (if the escort had been with me) you would be different,” Professor Andrabi is heard telling the DSP.
To that, DSP Aadil responds, “Sir, I am just performing my duty.”
“If I go by law, I have to detain…I am supposed to detain this vehicle,” he added.
While the video has sparked much debate on the social media, some people have referred to the officer’s action as a “dabang act”, The Indian Express reported.
Some of the users said, it would have been better if DSP Aadil had given the Vice Chancellor a warning and asked him to take the film off before hitting the road next time.
According to the law, it has been mandated by the Supreme Court following a petition that crimes are often committed behind the cover of tinted windows, that visibility should not fall below 70% because of the tint for the windscreen and rear windows. For the side windows, the visibility should not fall below 50%.
Professor Andrabi even accused the officer of breaching the “protocol” pertaining to the protection of an individual under Y-category security.
“I did introduce myself as Vice Chancellor, so that means he must know as a police officer that I am entitled to Y security. He could not keep me waiting on the road for 15 or 20 minutes till he removed the tinted glass,” The Indian Express reported him saying.
Regarding the incident as a publicity stunt, he said, “He was not doing his job. He was doing a publicity stunt nothing more, nothing less. He should not have put it on Facebook to earn brownie points. He cannot earn appreciation from his colleagues and friends at the expense of our image and reputation. We had not killed somebody. We had basically had a tinted glass which is barely a violation for which we are ready to face the consequences, if at all. People are posting comments against me in person which is absolutely absurd.”
