19 police officers in Madhya Pradesh suspended for skipping Independence Day band practice
Bhopal: A Madhya Pradesh police initiative to establish police bands in each district has encountered obstacles, with numerous officers taking legal action against the decision. This development follows the suspension of 19 cops in July for failing to attend band practice sessions for Independence Day celebrations.
On July 25, Superintendents of Police in the districts of Raisen, Mandsaur, Khandwa, Sidhi, and Harda issued suspension notices to officers who, despite being listed, did not show up for band practice across the state in preparation for Independence Day celebrations.
“The officers were asked to turn up for performance and they vanished. They were then served suspension notices and ordered to stay at police lines. They are yet to turn up,” Raisen Superintendent of Police Vikas Kumar told The Indian Express.
The suspension orders accused the officers of "gross indiscipline and insubordination." The notices stated that the officers would be entitled to a subsistence allowance as per regulations during the suspension period. Additionally, they would not be allowed to leave the headquarters without the permission of the Superintendent of Police and would be required to mark their attendance according to regulations, added the news outlet.
Several police personnel had approached the Jabalpur and Gwalior benches of MP High Court and stated that they never consented to join the police band nor filed any applications for it, as they preferred focusing on their regular duties. They further claimed the order assigning them to the band was "arbitrary and illegal". The police countered that written consent was initially requested but not provided, leading to the preparation of a common list.
Five police personnel faced a setback when Justice Anand Pathak, then serving on the Gwalior Bench, rejected their petition on May 29 and highlighted the significance of police bands at cultural and ceremonial events. It ruled that police training, including band participation, can be seen as part of ongoing skill enhancement, thus not requiring prior consent from the officers. The court also noted that the disciplined nature of police work means officers cannot refuse duties based on personal consent.
Three constables from Jabalpur withdrew their petitions on Thursday after being informed of the Gwalior bench's order.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
