Woman sub-inspector holds sit-in alleging officer-in-charge to have misbehaved with her
Telegraph | 1 November 2024
A woman sub-inspector of police held a sit-in at Nadial police station on Thursday afternoon alleging that the officer-in-charge had misbehaved with her and removed her items from the police barracks attached to the station.
Soma Tarafdar alleged that she returned from her leave and found her items removed from the barracks, where she said she had been staying since joining the police station in the port area a few years ago.
The officer said that after resuming duty she found her bedroll and other belongings removed and her room allotted to others.
The officer in charge of the police station, she said, misbehaved with her when she met her to seek an explanation as to why her belongings had been removed.
Senior officers tried to explain to Tarafdar that as a member of a disciplined force, she could not do certain things.
“The officer was told there were several channels to voice her grievances and that it was improper to hold a sit-in,” said a senior officer in the Port division of Kolkata Police.
Tarafdar moved to a spot near the police station and plonked herself there after she was asked to leave. She was taken away in a police van.
Later in the day, the police said Tarafadar had been “closed” for her alleged indiscipline. A “closed” officer is not assigned any duty.
Tarafdar’s manner of protest was unprecedented in the recent history of Kolkata Police, several senior police officers said.
Officers at Nadial police station said the sub-inspector used to stay alone in a room at the barracks. But officers had to make arrangements to accommodate others after a few women cops joined the police station.
“Several women personnel will have to share a room in a police barracks if there’s is a space crunch,” a police officer at the city police headquarters in Lalbazar said.
Tarafdar alleged that she couldn’t find some of her items when she went to the room to change into the police uniform before resuming duty. She said some women constables were allocated her room without senior officers informing her.
She said she had alerted several superior officers about her plight.