Taxila Police on Saturday suspended assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Imtiaz Nasir after a video of him slapping an elderly woman and pushing her to the ground in the general area of Taxila went viral.

According to a police spokesperson, the incident occurred when the police officers were trying to arrest Basir Khan — who they say was wanted in pickpocketing incidents.

The police said that Khan and the woman, who was his mother, were resisting the arrest when the incident happened.

In the video, the ASI can be seen trying to keep the woman away from the driving door of an automobile surrounded by bystanders.

Moments later, as the woman appeared to make a gesture of seeking forgiveness — possibly for her son — the enraged ASI slapped her and pushed her to the ground, drawing groans of disapproval from the bystanders and later from users on social media after footage of the incident went viral.

Khan, the alleged criminal, was eventually arrested and moved to the police station.

City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Khalid Hamdani took notice of the incident and consequently ordered the superintendent of police (SP) to investigate and submit a report.

The spokesperson said that action would be taken against the responsible personnel and an inquiry would be conducted into the matter.

They said that there would be no tolerance shown when it comes to exceeding authority or ill-treatment of the citizen.

“The protection of life and property of citizens is the highest priority,” the spokesperson added.