Three transgender candidates for the ongoing police recruitment drive were elated to see their names among those qualified for the second round of selection process.
However, to their disappointment, their names were included because of a glitch in the data recording system in which they were mistakenly identified as females. Their names were dropped from the list of qualified candidates when their category was changed to transgender after rectifying the error.
A total of 83,000 candidates have cleared the physical test for police recruitment and qualified for the next round, which is the written exam. Among these qualified candidates, seven were from the transgender category.
Since transgender’s category (T/F) was included in the system for the first time, the system, while making the list of qualified candidates, “by mistake” included them in the category of female candidates.
All the seven transgender persons were declared qualified under the female category.
Later, the deputy commissioner of police, headquarters-2, Tejaswi Satpute, found that the transgender category was missing from the final list of qualified candidates. After a quick scrutiny, and the system’s error was detected. Following this, the marks of transgender candidates were assessed again with respect to the cut-off list of the category they fall into as per the rule.
After this, only four of the seven transgender candidates could qualify for the next level.
The rest of the three transgender candidates were informed about the “error”.
“They were shocked to be informed that their names had been dropped from those who qualified… One of them, who hails from Solapur, told us that they were very happy to qualify in the first round and were preparing for the next round as they had also received the hall ticket for the written exam. At this time, news of disqualification broke their dream of wearing khaki. But, after effective counselling by DCP Satpute, the three have decided to try again next time,” said a police officer.
“We appreciated the three transgender candidates for showing such sportsmanship and accepting the result,” said DCP Satpute.
Recruitment for 8,070 posts of police constables and drivers is going on, for which over 5 lakh candidates have applied. This is for the first time, pursuant to a directive by the Bombay High Court, that the state has made provisions for transgender people to apply for police jobs.
8,000 complaints
For the ongoing recruitment, a list of candidates who qualified for the next level was announced on April 25. As per the rules, if any candidate is not happy with the outcome of the result, he can email his grievance and make a complaint within 24 hours. On April 26, the police department received as many as 8,000 complaints. These candidates in big groups have been making rounds of the Mumbai police headquarters, Mantralay, and also approaching ministers, public representatives, and other influential figures for “wrongful” exclusion. Many met DCP Satpute and expressed their concern.
An officer said that the complaints police received were segregated into different categories for quick and effective redressal. Nearly 700 complaints were from candidates who claimed that their names were not on the list of qualified candidates despite securing more than the cut-off marks in their respective categories. We sent these complaints to the respective centres: and the marks of these candidates were manually checked again.
And after rechecking, the marks of only six candidates needed correction. These six candidates are those who had gone for the appeal against the marks they had obtained. Their names were excluded because the system considered their original marks and not the marks corrected after the appeal. Rest all complaints were found to be untrue, a senior officer said.
Exam centers changed
Due to clashes with the NEET exams, the Mumbai police have changed three examination centres for the police recruitment. Those candidates who were to appear for exam at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vidyalay, Kandivali West, will now have to visit V K Menon School, Borivli (West); candidates for centre St Rock High School, Borivali, will now have to give exam at Orchid International School, Gorai, Borivli (West); and candidates that earlier were to appear at T P Bhatia School, Kandivali (West) will now have to appear for exam at Kapol Vidyanidhi International School, Kandivali (West). Candidates for these exam centers have been allotted a new hall ticket or identity letter.
The police said the complainant in the case is Monish Manohar Shinge and the case of cheating and forgery was registered on Friday. (Representational image)
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