CHANDIGARH: Punjab Police is likely to send the case of Indian woman cricketer and T-20 team Captain Harmanpreet Kaur to the state government with the recommendation that a special exemption be given to her for three years to let her get her degree, and till then she should not be paid any salary.
Earlier, it had stated that she cannot continue on the post-Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) as her graduation degree was fake, and so she should be demoted to a constable.
Sources said that the state police was likely to recommend to the state home department that exemption should be given to her for three years to complete her graduation, and for this, the home department will have to move a proposal before the state Cabinet. She is not likely to be paid a salary during this period but will retain the rank of DSP.
Harmanpreet, who got her degree through the distance education programme of Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut, says the degree is not fake and had she known that the degree was fake she would have done her graduation again.
Harmanpreet’s father Harmandar Singh said that she could do her graduation again if the government gave her time. “She appeared in the examination in Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut on the advice of her coach, passed the examination and got the degree from there and then the job,’’ he said.
Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar said the state government should allow her to retain her rank despite her fake degree. Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira of AAP urged Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh not to demote Harmanpreet.
The Shiromani Akali Dal is of the same view, with spokesman Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema saying: “She was given a job in the state police on the basis of sports and not educational qualification, so she should not be demoted.’’