Inquiry ordered after MP police aspirants get caste marked on chests

An inquiry has been ordered after photos showed aspirants for the post of police constables had their caste categories written on their bare chests in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district.

Photographs in various newspapers showed aspirants with "SC" (Scheduled Caste), "ST" (Scheduled Tribe) and "G" (General) marked with sketch pens on their chests as they queued up for their medical examination yesterday, triggering a massive debate on social media.

Dhar Superintendent of Police Virendra Singh today told PTI that he had ordered an inquiry into the incident, to be conducted by a deputy SP rank officer.

"The incident occurred yesterday when the District Medical Board was carrying out the medical examination of these candidates," he said.

Singh said those conducting the medical examination process had told police that the markings were made to tell apart candidates belonging to different categories as the physical requirements for each of these categories were different.

"However, they should have used other ways to differentiate. This is a serious matter," the SP said.