Officials in the Uttar Pradesh police auxiliary force accused of exploiting her child’s illness and targeting her over her faith
NEW DELHI — A Muslim home guard in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district says she was targeted for her faith and squeezed for bribes while trying to care for a critically ill child. Senior officials in the state police auxiliary force, she alleges, exploited her family crisis and punished her for being Muslim, raising fresh questions about bias inside public institutions.
Umra Khatoon, the complainant, has petitioned the district police for action. She says a senior commandant subjected her to months of mental harassment, demanding money for duty assignments even as she struggled as the sole earner in her household.
Her son, she said, is physically disabled and battling a serious heart condition. Treatment is constant. Money is tight. “On one side, I’m doing my duty. On the other hand, I’m running to save my child,” Khatoon wrote in her complaint, according to local reports. “Instead of help, I got threats and pressure from my own department.”
Khatoon alleges the harassment escalated because she is Muslim. The bribes, the intimidation, the duty denials — she says it all ties back to her identity.
The case lands amid wider complaints from Muslim groups and civil rights advocates who say institutional bias has hardened in Uttar Pradesh under the BJP government. Policing, jobs, housing, paperwork — Muslims in the state routinely report being singled out, they say.
Khatoon’s account also throws light on the precarity of women in India’s lower-rung security forces. Irregular postings, no financial safety net, and total dependence on senior officers for work leave many prone to exploitation.
District officials confirmed the complaint has reached them. The district police chief has reportedly assured that “appropriate action” will follow a review.
For now, Khatoon says she’s still reporting for duty — and still fighting to keep her child alive.
