Gujarat cops' confinement in garage for 16 hrs "symptomatic" of brewing rebellion among junior men, women in khaki

By Nachiketa Desai and Rajiv Shah
The recent incident, in which an additional director general of police (ADGP) of Gujarat locked up 17 policemen in his garage for more than 16 hours without water, food and electricity to ‘teach them a lesson’ for being “lax in carrying out domestic work” is being interpreted among official circles in Gujarat Sachivalaya as a symptom of brewing rebellion among the women and men in khaki.
The policemen were freed them state director general of police (DGP) PC Thakur rushed two senior IPS officers to rescue them from the garage. Those who were locked up by Vipul Vijoy, a 1983 batch IPS officer, in the garage of his official bungalow situated within the Police Training College in Karai, off Gandhinagar, included one sub-inspector, 12 assistant sub-inspectors and four police drivers.
The cops were locked following “some altercation over doing work sluggishly”, following which the ADGP ordered them to go inside the garage and locked them up, sources in the Police Bhawan said. The matter came to light after one of the “captives” managed to send out information about their illegal confinement at about 2 pm on September 30, and a local Gujarati TV channel aired the news.
Till then, none, not even the DGP, knew of what was happening. “After the news report on the TV channel, the DGP came to know of the incident and rushed two senior IPS officers, KK Ojha and TS Bisht to look into the matter and free the policemen”, the sources pointed out.
By the time Ojha and Bisht reached the Karai campus, crew members of local Gujarati TV channels had already reached the stop. They were ordered to move to a distance from the ADGP’s bungalow, where the policemen were kept in confinement.
The incident was taken seriously, as among others, DGP Thakur, Gandhinagar range IGP Hasmukh Patel and Gandhinagar district superintendent of police, and the superintendent of the anti-terrorist squad also reached Vijoy’s bungalow, and all the 17 “captives” were freed.
While officially the Gujarat government is describing it as a minor matter, with the ADGP wanting to teach the erring and misbehaving cops a “lesson”, Sachivalaya insiders say, the matter cannot be taken “lightly”, as it comes close on the heels of the move to revive a junior cops’ association, banned three decades ago by the Gujarat government headed by Congress chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhury.
Former president of the federation of unions of police constables, head constables, sub-inspectors and inspectors, Mukesh Parikh, has appealed the men and women in khaki to “unite” and help revive the association. After holding a meeting, he is learnt to have submitted a memorandum to the DGP with a list of demands.
Parikh, accompanied by his comrades, who all have retired from service since the dissolution of the four unions and their federation, have distributed a pamphlet along with rose flowers to cops on duty, including an assistant commissioner of police, and raised slogans “Gujarat Police Zindabad”, “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
Parikh said, he would revive the Gujarat Police Parishad (Federation) and has the support for his satyagraha for policemen’s and policewomen’s plight. The demands he has decided to raise include not only recognition of the parishad, but also implementation of the Government of India-appointed sixth pay commission salaries, which has not been done since 2009.
“There are over 20,000 constables recruited on fixed pay for a period of five years, each earning just Rs 5,500 per month. They should be regularized”, he said, adding, “The state government also give 10 per cent reservation in the police force to the cops’ children, and scholarship from the police welfare fund.”

Comments

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Gujarat government urged to introduce heat-stress safety rules for construction workers

By A Representative A representation submitted to Gujarat Labour, Skill Development and Employment Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya has urged the state government to introduce legally enforceable safety standards to protect construction workers from extreme heat and heatwaves, and to launch a financial assistance scheme for labourers affected by climate-related health risks.

Search This Blog