Mumbai: 'They feel the system is against them'

Candidates undergo a two-hour physical training at Oval Maidan on weekdays, starting 6.30 am. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

Every day, Mankhurd resident Rehmat Bee Khalilwi leaves home at 5 am to reach Churchgate's Oval Maidan by 6.30 am. With no access to local trains under state guidelines that allow only essential workers to use the service under lockdown, Khalilwi's husband Mohammed drops her on his bike. Some days, she takes a bus. Despite the challenging commute, the 28-year-old has not missed a single day of training.

Khalilwi is among 200 Muslim candidates being trained by Grant Road madrassa Jamia Ashrafia Qadria to get into the police constabulary. The religious institution has joined hands with a private coaching institute to launch a pilot, three-month training programme for aspirants preparing for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), an exam that selects officers for civil service jobs.

Coach Mukesh Bhaskar says the training is the same for both men and women, and includes running, long jump, high jump and short put

Spearheaded by Congress MLA Amin Patel, activists MA Khalid and Sarfaraz Arzoo, and madrassa head Maulana Moin Ashraf Qadri, the move is "aimed at increasing Muslim representation" in the law enforcement agency. The training includes not just physical fitness, but also virtual academic classes.

Khalilwi says it's her husband who inspired her to join. "I feel having more female officers will improve the law enforcement's response to violence against women," she says. Nagpada resident Shabnam Qureshi's daughter Bilqees has also enrolled for the training. "She [Bilqees] was always good at sports, all through school and college. I thought her fitness levels and sense of discipline could be put to good use if she joined the police."

The police crackdown at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia, on December 15, last year and the Delhi riots in February have only reignited the discourse about the low numbers of minorities in the police force.

Patel says, "Every report has pointed out that the reason behind this [low numbers] is that people aren't willing to come forward. In 2007, Maharashtra chief minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh's administration had decided that the minority department should provide police training to Muslims. Hundred candidates from 36 districts were to be selected. But what happens is that you get a good response from certain districts, while nothing from the others. That's why we decided to start the pilot project."

According to Khalid, they have received over 8,000 applications from across Maharashtra. This wasn't the case three years ago, when they had tried to get students in Mumbai. "We had failed to receive even 100 applications. But after our recent campaign, there has been renewed interest." Khalid says having more Muslims in the constabulary will help with the feeling of being part of a larger goal to do good.

"There has been a growing fear within the community that the system is against them, but having their own people in the system will only
instil confidence."

Former senior police inspector, Shamsher Pathan, who served at the Nagpada Police Station in the early 2000s, remembers how his services were often sought to diffuse tension in communally-sensitive areas. "Whenever there was a 'Muslim problem', I was the troubleshooter because they knew that I could mix with the crowd. In fact, the representation of Muslims in the force was so low, that if we needed an Urdu document translated, we had to seek help from outsiders."

Adnan Khan, a fitness trainer, who is among the candidates training currently, believes religion shouldn't figure in a discussion on matters of serving the country. He says, "I'm an Indian first."

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