Bushra Bano cleared the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission examination in 2017 with Rank 6, becoming a PCS Officer and later a sub-divisional magistrate. She studied on her own, without coaching, while working full-time and raising two children with her engineer husband. She sat for the UPSC exam twice — in 2019 and 2021 — before securing Rank 234 and clearing the Indian Police Service.

On September 14, 2026, she was transferred from her post as additional SP of Kharagpur in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district, a day after propaganda news channels and Right-wing accounts targeted her for using the Arabic words, ‘Assalamu Alaikum’, ‘Jazakallah’, and ‘Inshallah’, in a video.

In the clip, Bushara is heard commending a government-aided residential coaching academy for minorities, women and SC/ST students at Aligarh Muslim University. While she spoke, she said the three phrases in Arabic. She said, “Assalamu Alaikum. My name is Bushra Bano… ” at first. Towards the end, she said, “…If they (the students) stay and study through the RCA then Inshallah many more people will move forward like me and get the opportunity to serve their country.” At the end she ended her video by saying, “Thank you, Jazakallah”.

“Assalamu Alaikum” is a common greeting which means “Peace be upon you”; “Inshallah” translates to “God willing”, and the phrase “Jazakallah” means “May God Reward You”. The reader might note that these are not religious phrases but greetings and wishes.

A simple video, made by a Muslim IPS officer who used a few Arabic phrases, sent ripples across the Right-wing ecosystem. On September 13, propaganda outlet Sudarshan News, which has its own national TV channel, shared the video on X and said, “Starting with ‘Assalamualaikum,’ slipping in ‘Inshallah’ midway, and wrapping up with ‘Jazakallah’, Bushra Bano… shared how she came from Saudi Arabia and became an IPS officer in India… She made full use of the scheme being run by the government at Aligarh Muslim University.”

Soon, a barrage of online trolls started targeting Bano. An X handle called @HinduLegalFund posted on X that a complaint had been filed with the West Bengal home secretary regarding the video. “She began with Assalamualaikum, used Inshallah, ended with Jazakallah — and did not use Vande Mataram or Jai Hind…” the post read. Additionally, it stated that a serving officer should maintain “neutrality and national expressions in public communication”.

Several Right-wing accounts, including @JaipurDialogues and @MeghUpdates, also shared the video and complained that no ‘Vande Mataram’ or ‘Jai Hind’ had been used by the IPS officer.

A notification issued by the government of West Bengal on Monday stated that Bano, alongside two other WBPS officers, was being transferred to a different posting “in public interest”. She has been made the deputy commandant of the state armed police 4th battalion. The notification does not state any reason behind the transfer.

It should be common knowledge that Arabic is a language and Islam is a religion. Muslims use Arabic extensively for religious purposes, but Arabic is not synonymous with Islam. In other words, none of these expressions is simply a ‘Muslim word’ in the narrow linguistic sense. They are Arabic phrases whose meanings and histories intersect with Islamic religious usage, but they are not exclusive to Islam.  The tradition of greeting a person with ‘Peace be upon you’, for example, exists in other languages and religious traditions — the Hebrew expression ‘shalom aleichem’, for example, literally means ‘peace be upon you’ and is common in Jewish religious literature. None of this, however, came in the way of pro-BJP handles slamming the officer for her alleged religion posturing.

Sudarshan News editor Suresh Chavhanke, whose history of peddling misinformation and communal propaganda is well documented, called Bano’s case ‘UPSC Jihad’.

Even if one were to accept this as an instance of religious posturing, it would hardly be the first time a police officer has done so. What stands out, however, is how differently such conduct is received depending on the community to which the officer belongs.

In May 2026, IPS officer C V Anand invited priests to perform a puja in his office on the day he took charge as director general of police of Telangana.

He himself posted about this on X. No one batted an eyelid. Anand is still serving as the DGP of Telangana.

Anand wrote, “As per the muhurtham , I reached the DGP office at Lakdikapul with my family , took the salute and followed the pujari into the dgp chambers where the puja and blessings were done.”

More such instances are not difficult to find.

In Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, a circle officer named Anuj Chaudhary, who was an accused of firing during the violence at the Shahi Jama Masjid in November 2024, was pictured joining a Hindu religious procession in January 2025. He was accused of participating in religious rituals while on duty and violating service conduct rules. A complaint was filed by retired IPS officer and Azad Adhikar Sena president Amitabh Thakur, following which a probe was launched.

The same year, on Holi, Chaudhary had stated: “Holi comes once a year, Jumma comes 52 times. If you want to serve sevai, you must also eat gujiya.” Again, an investigation was initiated, and Chaudhary was eventually given a clean chit.

In May 2025, he was transferred from Sambhal to Chandausi, some 30 km away. Three months later, in August, Chaudhary was promoted to the role of additional superintendent of police (ASP). His colleagues and senior officers, including SP K K Bishnoi and ASP Rajesh Kumar Srivastava, marked the occasion with a felicitation ceremony.

Was there no outrage when Anuj Chaudhary carried a mace and marched in a religious procession in uniform? There was, from one section, but he went on to be promoted. Bano’s case panned out differently. The principle, presumably, is that the same rules apply to everyone. In practice, however, some seem to be considerably more equal than others. And if Bushra Bano’s transfer was, as the government put it, “in public interest”, one is left wondering exactly which ‘public’ that interest was meant to serve.

Bano’s transfer set off a series of critical reactions from the Opposition. Several politicians alleged that the transfer was a direct fallout of her use of Arabic phrases. Comparing the incident with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of the Parliament “with sengol & bare chested sadhus”, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra remarked, “…We are a nation gone mad, poisoned with hate & bigotry. God Save India”.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also criticised the move, saying the transfer, which was followed by the West Bengal CM “calling an election a ‘test’ of Muslim loyalty”, was “a veiled threat to the community”. “…First our food, clothes and marriages , now even our vocabulary and our votes are being policed”, she added.

Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi took to X to condemn the move. “A hate-mongering TV channel first sensationalized that video by posting it and incited online trolling against the female IPS officer, and instead of standing by her, the state government transferred her the very next day. What kind of India are you building, @narendramodi ji? @IPS_Association, are you watching this?”, he wrote.