IPS officer Bushra Bano has been transferred by the West Bengal government days after a right-wing organisation complained about a video in which she greeted viewers with “Assalamualaikum,” used “Inshallah” during her message and signed off with “Jazakallah.” Bano, who was serving as Additional Superintendent of Police in Kharagpur, has now been transferred as Deputy Commandant of the State Armed Police (SAP) 4th Battalion. The transfer order was issued on September 14. She has been replaced by Partha Ghosh, who was earlier serving as Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Chandannagar Police Commissionerate.

The controversy began after Bano posted a video describing her journey into the civil services. The video primarily focused on her journey from working as an assistant professor in Saudi Arabia to becoming an IPS officer. She also spoke about the support she received from Aligarh Muslim University’s Residential Coaching Academy, including study materials, test series and access to its library. Following the video, the Hindu Legal Fund filed a complaint with the West Bengal Home Secretary, alleging that a serving officer representing the Indian state should maintain neutrality in public communication and objecting to her use of Islamic greetings and expressions instead of phrases such as “Vande Mataram” or “Jai Hind.”

Bano is a 2021-batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre and began her career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Hooghly Rural. She was promoted to Additional Superintendent of Police in June this year and was subsequently posted in Kharagpur. Her transfer has now drawn attention amid the controversy surrounding the complaint, though the government’s order does not publicly establish that the transfer was imposed as a disciplinary action over the video. The development has sparked wider discussion over the personal expressions public officials can use in their public communications and the question of neutrality expected from serving civil servants.