Maharashtra: Cops warned against dancing in uniform during Ganeshotsav festival

Screen grabs of viral videos where on-duty cops can be seen dancing at GSB Seva Mandal and in Kolhapur

Additional Director General of Police Kulwant Sarangal has warned policemen not to dance while in uniform, an act he termed ‘disrespectful'. More than 50 clips have surfaced on social media of policemen across Maharashtra shaking a leg during Ganeshotsav. DCP Zone 4 of the Mumbai police has launched a departmental inquiry after dozens of khaki-clad officials, including women, were seen dancing inside the GSB Seva Mandal at Matunga in one such video.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Patil of Zone 4 said, "We have submitted our report to the department." Among the viral videos are one where two policemen are seen sitting on the shoulders of revellers at Lalbaug and another where more than 50 Kolhapur cops on bandobast duty are seen dancing vigorously to a track. Sarangal told mid-day, "Police officials should not dance while in uniform and they are not permitted to do so. Departmental inquiries into the matter are being held across the state." A senior IPS officer said, "Dancing in uniform is disrespectful and unacceptable."

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Vijay Kamath, spokesperson, GSB Seva Mandal, stated that leniency should be shown as the incident had occurred inside the Ganpati mandal and not on the street. He said, "For the past two years, nobody celebrated any festival across the country due to COVID-19, but this year all festivals were celebrated with pomp. On the last day, dhol-tasha celebrations occurred in our mandal sometime before the visarjan. It was then that our volunteers requested all the cops, who had been on duty for the past five days, to dance with them. It was not the cops' fault and there is nothing wrong with this. They were not dancing on the roads."

He added that after the video went viral, the mandal wrote to the CP and DCP, asking them not to take action against the police "as they had done a fantastic job this visarjan". "They are also human, and dancing for five minutes with us is not a crime," Kamath added.