Following large-scale violence and vandalism by over 300 trainee police constables at New Police Line in Patna on Friday after the death of one of their colleagues, the Inspector General of Police, Patna Zone, who conducted a probe into the incident, has recommended dismissal of as many as 175 constables, 78 of them women. He also suspended 23 other policemen posted at the Police Line.
On Friday, over 300 trainee constables, mostly women, had come out of their barracks at New Police Line and indulged in violence and vandalism, attacking two senior police officers and damaging several police vehicles.
They were enraged over the death of a colleague, Sabita Pathak, 22, who was suffering from fever and other ailments for several days but was “denied leave by senior officials”.
For several hours they kept protesting and resisted entry of senior police officers into the Police Line. Of the 900 newly recruited police constables, over 300 are women. They underwent training barely 5-10 days ago and were being deputed at different traffic intersections, in police patrol cars and for managing VIP movements.
A large number of women were recruited this time under the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s quota scheme in government jobs.
“They hardly know the police culture as they were hardly trained. They must have been misled by others,” State DGP K.S. Dwivedi had said.
Later, the Chief Minister had sought a detailed report on the incident.