Three transgenders have created history by becoming Bihar police officers. They were among the 1239 sub-inspectors whom chief minister Nitish Kumar handed over appointment letters at a function in the state capital on Monday.

The recruitment of the transgenders was the result of a protracted court battle by their community. The Patna High Court had ordered the state government in 2021 to recruit third-gender people in the police force.

It was followed by an affidavit by the home department before the high court that it would post a sub-inspector and five constables from the third gender category in every district in the state.

“I extend congratulations and best wishes to all the 1239 newly-appointed police sub-inspectors. There are 442 women among them, which is a matter of happiness for me,” Nitish said while handing them the appointment letters.

Reminding the poor law and order situation in Bihar before his advent as a chief minister in 2005, Nitish said that he took several steps to improve the situation.

“The strength of the police was 42,000 in 2005. We expedited the recruitment process and today their number is 1.10 lakh in the state. We also implemented a 35 per cent reservation for women in the police in 2013. Today Bihar has 30,000 women police officials. No other state in the country has such a large number of women working in the police force,” Nitish added.

Speaking further, the chief minister asserted that the number of police personnel should be 2.29 lakh as per the state’s 13.07 crore population and to adhere to the national average, which happens to be around 115 police personnel per lakh of population.

Nitish pointed out that the process to appoint 21,000 more police personnel was going on and work to recruit another 20,000 was in the pipeline. He asked director general of police (DGP) Alok Raj to expedite the recruitment of the remaining 78,000 police officials in the next six months to reach the national average.

However, despite the rise in the number of Bihar police personnel, the law and order in the state have gone for a toss with numerous murders, rapes, loot, dacoities and other serious offences occurring in all the districts on a daily basis.

The chief minister said that he had decided to provide 10 lakh jobs and 10 lakh employment as the part II of his seven resolves for a developed Bihar in 2020. We have provided 7.16 lakh jobs so far and have decided to provide a total of 12 lakh jobs to the people, without discriminating on the basis of categories and religions.

He also appealed to the Bihar police to discharge its duty in a better manner.