Beed Police drop surnames from official name plates to avoid ‘social tension’

New name plates dropping the surnames aimed at concealing the caste of a police personnels at the SP office in Beed on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

There’s muted excitement at the office of the Beed Superintendent of Police (SP) as many staff members have recently received their new name plates. Against the backdrop of rising social tensions in Beed following the gruesome murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, the Maharashtra Police is attempting a new approach for the first time. The Beed SP has issued a directive that police personnel should refrain from using their last names on their name plates. They have also been asked to refer to each other only by their first names. The move, the new SP of Beed hopes, will ease social tension and build trust towards the police force.

Deshmukh, a sarpanch from the Maratha community from Massajog village in Beed, was murdered by local goons belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC) Vanjari community. The incident led to social tension in the district.

Nationalist Congress Party-Ajit Pawar (NCP-AP) sitting MLA from Parali, Dhananjay Munde, resigned as a State Cabinet Minister in the wake of the incident.

“When police personnel stand for bandobast, or for security duty, people often look at the name plates to ascertain the caste of the police personnel. Many times, it was observed that people were more comfortable speaking to police personnel from their own caste group, or allege caste-based targeting if a policeman from another caste apprehended them,” a senior official of Beed police said.

“We don’t have a caste or a religion. That is why this initiative was undertaken to address each other by their first name. No bias should be felt. This is also a move to fill our constables with self-confidence. This will help us serve the people of Beed better. We will be seen as independent and fair. We will be seen as a force which is above any caste, religion, or geographical region. This is a strong message to the people and to the force that we will work only as per law and not as per any caste, religion or area,” Beed SP Navneet Kanwat told The Hindu.

The name plate on Mr. Kanwat’s desk, and pinned to his uniform, had only his first name — Navneet. Constables and officials walking in to meet him sport similar name plates.

The move has been appreciated by Chief Minister and State Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, police officials said.

But the people of Beed said a great deal more than such “cosmetic changes” were required. “In fact, criminals are criminals. They have no caste or religion. But there is a perception that the police support the accused. Due to the deeply political nature of the district, people feel the powerful get the support of the system. People are upset with this. The polarisation in the communities here is already deep. They prefer to not even visit the shops run by members of another community. Politicians fan this bitterness. If this caste polarisation does not end, it will lead to horrific consequences in the future,” Namdeo Nagargoje, who hails from Beed, said.