Cop suspended for wanting to beg while in uniform

MUMBAI: Less than a month after a police constable was suspended for asking permission to beg as he had not been paid his remuneration, another constable attached to the local arms unit of Marol, Andheri, has been suspended for showing disrespect to the uniform by asking to beg while being in uniform, and having an unethical approach. Like his predecessor Dnyaneshwar Ahirrao, constable Pramod Patil, too, threatened to go on a hunger strike and beg as he had not been paid his remuneration for a long time.

According to sources however, constable Patil’s suspension was triggered by the fact that he failed to report to work, days after his request for medical leave only to stage a hunger strike at Azad Maidan was shot down by the police department.

At the time, permission was refused to constable Patil on grounds that his reasons for staging a protest were unclear and unviable. Further, when the police called him to handover in person (as per protocol), the letter refusing him permission, constable Patil allegedly refused to sign a copy and left, according to a police source.

When contacted, constable Patil said he was very unhappy with the way the department was treating its policemen and that they needed better treatment. “We have held various protests and agitations to get these demands fulfilled over the course of two years, but all went in vain.

“Our demands include that there should be a police union to consider our side; we should be given better healthcare facilities; we should be eligible for the seventh pay commission; and errors in the sixth pay commission should be rectified. Until these demands are met, I will continue to protest this mistreatment, and will definitely get what is ours,” he said.