Woman Constable Carrying Baby On Duty Faces Probe. We Need To Be More Understanding
Before I was born, my mother was working successfully in a corporate, climbing up the professional ladder steadily and with a lot of promise. However, soon after my birth, her priorities in life shifted as she left her job and decided to spend all her time with me. While it may sound like a heart-felt mother-daughter moment, the fact that I was the reason my mom had to leave her job when I look back at it, brings up the argument about women being asked to bear the entire emotional and physical load of bringing up a child. My mom wasn’t the only one to face challenges after giving birth, as we saw a constable in Chandigarh also struggling to find work-life balance as she had to bring her new born child with her during her hours of duty.
Captured in a video by a passer-by, the now viral clip shows a woman constable performing duty at the Sector 15/16/23/24 roundabout with her 5 months old child in her arms.
Identified as Priyanka, the woman constable apparently had been on a six-month maternity leave and had resumed her duty on March 3, making the day of 6th March (when the video was shot), her third day of duty. Having to face a a departmental probe considering she was caught with her baby on duty, the sequence of events that led to the point are being investigated by the department.
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The video was shot at 11 am, which also when woman constable Priyanka had reported to duty as opposed to her reporting time of 8 am. Police officials, wishing to remain anonymous, shared that Priyanka came to Sector 29 traffic lane when she was asked to reach her spot and despite being advised to take leave in case she was not able to work, she instead took her baby with her and started guiding the traffic.
Priyanka who has spoken up on the matter shared, “There is no one at home to look after my son who was born prematurely. My husband and in-laws are in Mahendragarh. I joined my duty four days ago. For the first two days, I was given duties near my residence after my request to do so. On Friday, my duty point- the Sector 15/23 roundabout, was very far away from my residence. I got late and received a call from the Traffic Police Lines, Sector 29. Duty is first for me, but I also cannot ignore my child. So, I took my child to Traffic Lines and later went to the duty point. My request for shifting to a lighter duty point was accepted by the SSP (traffic).”
#HappyWomensDay2021 to all #Womens & #Mothers
May all your hard work, determination, love, support & caring be a fruitful one in achieving your own dream at the foremost.
A women constable priyanka controlling a traffic with a baby on one side of her hand for the people. pic.twitter.com/IncPVrJmkB— Sfleix (@Soreiyofleix) March 8, 2021
Meanwhile, SSP Manisha Chaudhary said, “A cop performing her duty keeping her child in her lap is not acceptable. I have received initial reports from the field staff and have shifted the cop for a lighter duty. I ordered a fact-finding report of the sequences, in which the constable brought her child to the duty point. I was informed that yesterday, she was found absent from her designated duty point Sector 15/23 roundabout. Later, she came along with her child.”
It is understandable that a cop on duty, in the field, must not carry a child with them for safety reasons as well as professional, but the fact that we aren’t considering the plight of mothers who have to juggle work and home is also frustrating. Let’s not forget to respect the fact that an infant would need his mother, and offering leniency to young mothers with new born wouldn’t be all that bad. Hopefully then women wouldn’t feel compelled to carry their children to duty.
