XtraTime Web Desk: The government of Punjab has taken back the deputy superintendent of police rank from Indian women’s Twenty20 captain and Arjuna awardee, Harmanpreet Kaur as her graduation certificate was found to be fake.
Kaur had joined the Punjab police as a DSP on March 1 where she had to submit her 2011 graduation degree which was allegedly issued by Meerut’s Chaudhary Charan Singh University. “The state government has written to Harmanpreet that since now her qualification can only be treated as Class XII, she can best be retained by the Punjab police as a constable,” said a senior official in chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s office. The Moga native’s qualification is not proportionate with that of the DSP according to the Punjab police rules.
The Punjab government however, does not want to take any legal action against her for this fake degree. To support his statement, he continued, “She is a player of international repute and was given the rankof DSP on the basis of her achievements in the field of cricket”.
If the Punjab police would have filed an FIR against her on grounds of forgery and criminal conspiracy, then Harmanpreet could even have lost her Arjuna award.
When she was enquired whether she received any letter for the constable’s post in the Punjab police, she refused to respond saying, “I am not well, will talk to you all later”. Kaur has been signed up by the team Lancashire Thunder as their overseas player for the 2018 season of England’s Kia Super League, which is due to leave for Britain on July 15.
Harmanpreet’s degree was verified from the Meerut university by the Punjab armed Police, who confirmed that the roll number and enrollment number which was mentioned in her mark sheet do not exist in their records.
After her brilliant performance in the Women’s Cricket World Cup the previous year, the chirf minister had offered Kaur, the post of DSP in the Punjab Police. She was then recruited as the the deputy superintendent of police with Western Railways after signing a five-years bond. As she had completed only three years of service, Captain Singh had taken up her case with railway minister Piyush Goyal so that she could join the Punjab police.