With inadequate pay, double shifts and sometimes just two hours of rest each day, the lower-rung policemen in the state are still fighting a court battle to form an association.
With inadequate pay, double shifts and sometimes just two hours of rest each day, the lower-rung policemen in the state are still fighting a court battle to form an association to voice their grievances. But what is still coming in their way is the “ruckus” they created in 1982 when hundreds of policemen protested their “pathetic” work conditions.
Twenty-seven years on, the slur cast on their reputation may perhaps begin to fade. The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the state government whether it would reconsider the application of the constables, police naiks, sepoys, assistant police sub-inspectors to form a common association for their representation. The government will have to inform about its stand on Thursday.
An application filed by a Sakharam Yadawade, a police head constable, had urged the court to direct the Director General of Police (DGP) and the state government to grant recognition to the association for the constabulary-level officers of the force.
The application that was heard by a division bench of Justice DK Deshmukh and Justice RS Mohite on Wednesday stated that an association for these policemen was recognised by the state government in March 1982. However, after an alleged rebellion by some police personnel, the recognition was subsequently withdrawn.
In August 1982, hundreds of policemen went on strike to protest their working conditions. They took to the streets, burnt and looted shops and damaged property to an extent that the army and the Border Security Force were called in to control the charged situation.
In August 1997, the DGP had rejected a fresh application signed by 1,800-odd policemen seeking the formation of an association under the Police Forces (restriction of rights) rule, 1966, after which the petition was filed in the high court.
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