Complaint against IPS officer Bushra Bano over greeting used in video

West Bengal cadre IPS officer Bushra Bano is in the news over a video in which she spoke about her inspiring journey. She began the video with "Assalamu Alaikum" and used words such as "Insha Allah" in the middle and "Jazakallah" at the end.

A complaint has been filed against her with the West Bengal home secretary over the same video. The organisation that filed the complaint says a government officer should use neutral and national expressions rather than religious greetings in a public message.

The complaint was sent to the West Bengal home secretary by an organisation called "Hindu Legal Fund". The organisation has alleged that IPS officer Bushra Bano used Urdu and Islamic greetings in her video but did not use national greetings such as "Jai Hind" or "Vande Mataram". The organisation says that any serving officer representing the Indian state should maintain religious neutrality in public communication. It has also posted on X (Twitter) demanding an investigation into the matter.

Setting the complaint aside, Bushra Bano's life journey has been quite inspiring. She was born in Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh. She completed her PhD in management studies from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and has also cleared the UGC NET-JRF examination. Despite the responsibilities of marriage and family, she did not give up on her dream. She worked as an assistant professor in Saudi Arabia for a few years, before returning to India to prepare for the UPSC examination.

In the video, Bushra Bano said that Aligarh Muslim University's Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) helped her a great deal during her UPSC preparation. She said a good study environment, study material, library and test series there strengthened her preparation.