New Delhi: West Bengal IPS officer Bushra Bano has come under scrutiny after a complaint over her use of Islamic expressions in a video.
Bano is a 2021-batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre. She was serving as Additional Superintendent of Police in Kharagpur before being transferred to Deputy Commandant of the state armed police on Monday.
The controversy followed a video Bano posted on September 13. In the video, she spoke about her UPSC preparation and the role of Aligarh Muslim University’s Residential Coaching Academy.
She began the video with “Assalamualaikum”, used “Inshallah” during her remarks and ended with “Jazakallah”. Some social media users questioned why she did not use expressions such as “Jai Hind” or “Vande Mataram”.
Complaint raises questions over IPS officer’s neutrality
The Hindu Legal Fund said it had complained to the West Bengal Home Secretary. The group argued that serving officers should maintain neutrality in their public communication.
However, a complaint does not establish misconduct. The government has also not publicly stated that Bano’s transfer was a disciplinary action.
The All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 require officers to maintain integrity, devotion to duty and conduct befitting members of the service. The rules also stress political neutrality and fairness in official duties.
The rules do not specifically require officers to use “Jai Hind” or “Vande Mataram” instead of religious greetings. The issue would instead concern whether official conduct creates an impression of religious favouritism.
Who is IPS Officer Bushra Bano?
Bano is from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh and studied at Aligarh Muslim University. She completed a PhD in management studies and qualified for a Junior Research Fellowship.
She later worked as an assistant professor in Saudi Arabia before returning to India to prepare for the UPSC examination.
Bano cleared the UPSC examination in 2018 with the 277th rank and was allotted the Indian Railway Traffic Service. She did not join the service as she was expecting her second child.
She appeared again the following year and improved her rank to 234. She was then selected for the Indian Police Service.
As a West Bengal cadre officer, Bano began her career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Hooghly Rural. She later became Additional SP in Kharagpur.
The controversy has also drawn comparisons with other cases involving public servants and religious expression. These cases involve different circumstances and cannot be treated as identical.
The broader debate centres on how neutrality standards should apply to serving public officials while respecting personal religious expression.
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