Bihar DGP Anand Shankar

Patna, Aug. 24: The police chief won’t meet the constable if he is minus uniform, the constable will not brook the chief wearing a tika on duty.

Respect for the uniform is suddenly the rage in Bihar police, from its highest rank to the lowest. It has locked the director-general in battle with his constables — in the name of discipline.

The prelude to the morality play took place on August 2 morning when IPS officer Anand Shankar performed puja for three hours in his chamber, applied vermilion on his forehead and then took charge as the Bihar police chief.

The Lord Krishna devotee then announced he would “enforce discipline” among the force’s “disorderly” ranks at any cost.

True to his words, the new DGP on Friday refused to meet representatives from the Bihar Policemen’s Association — an organisation of constables — when they turned up to complain about a deputy superintendent beating up a constable at Supaul.

DSP vs constable was replaced by DGP vs constable when Shankar told them: Come back in uniform and I’ll meet you.

That triggered a written statement from a furious association president, Jitendra Narayan Singh. He pointed out that the DGP was wearing a tika in violation of the police manual’s Clause 1061C, which prohibits personnel on duty from sporting tika or long beards.

“How can an officer who does not adhere to the code of uniformed service instruct subordinates to abide by the code?” Singh asked.

He added: “We are not supposed to meet a senior officer in uniform when we go in a delegation to raise issues related to policemen’s welfare.”

Shankar said: “I have asked for the police manual. I will give up sporting the tika if the manual prohibits that. But the policemen must meet me in uniform.”

Association officials poured scorn on the remark. “He (Shankar) is a 1973 batch IPS officer who has served as SP, DIG, IG and DG. It is shameful that he is not aware about the manual code and is asking for a manual when on the verge of retirement,” an association office-bearer said. Shankar is due to retire in February.

What association leaders are shy of acknowledging, however, is that they take advantage of their position to avoid wearing the uniform and shirk their normal duty. Police sources said senior officers ignore the breach of discipline because they themselves take advantage of their position.

For instance, according to Clause 693 of the police manual, an IPS officer is entitled only to a bodyguard, a driver and an orderly.

“But the DGP and almost all IPS officers in the state have 30 to 40 policemen engaged in their personal service. They drop the officers’ wards to schools, feed their cattle, cook their food and clean their dishes,” Singh alleged.

K.K. Jha, general secretary of the Bihar Police Association, an organisation of sub-inspectors and inspectors, backed the constables’ association.

“Both the Bengal and Bihar police associations came into existence in 1920. Their members have never met senior officers in uniform when they have gone in a delegation to raise issues related to their demands and grievances,” he said.