An inspector-rank police officer has been arrested and fired from service after he was caught on camera masturbating in front of a woman complainant in Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh, PTI reported on Thursday. The accused, Bhishm Pal Singh, was arrested on Wednesday, Deoria Superintendent of Police Shripati Mishra said.

Singh was absconding since Tuesday and the state police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information about his whereabouts.

The incident took place on June 22, when the woman and her daughter went to the police station to file a complaint in connection with a land dispute case. A video, shot by the complainant’s daughter, shows Singh making lewd gestures by touching his private parts intentionally.

“The police inspector who indulged in perverted behaviour in front of a female complainant inside a police station in Deoria has been terminated from service,” said Additional Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar. “There will be zero tolerance towards anyone violating the dignity of women. No one is above law.”

A first information report was filed against the accused at the same police station after the video was shared widely on social media, triggering outrage.

He has been booked under charges of voyeurism, outraging the modesty of a woman, and public servant disobeying law, the police said.

The woman had visited the police station several times before to get the complaint filed, but the police refused to, according to NDTV. “I want him to accept his mistake,” she told the channel. “When he did this for the first two times, I kept quiet. The third time he did this, I recorded the video. If a police officer does this, how will people get justice? We are trying that such an incident does not happen again.”

The National Commission of Women took cognisance of media reports about the incident, saying it was “perturbed” and “shocked” by the misbehaviour of a person holding a responsible position.

“Considering the gravity of the matter, I request you to send a detailed action-taken report regarding the same,” said the commission chief Rekha Sharma wrote in a letter to Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police HC Awasthi.