Bhopal: A month after nine women police aspirants forced into the chief minister’s function at Lal Parade Grounds and raised slogans to allow shorter women into the police force, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on Monday kept their wish and reduced the height eligibility from the 158cm to 155cm.Briefing the media after Monday’s cabinet meeting, minister Narottam Mishra said the decision was ratified by the council of ministers headed by the chief minister. Asked if the nine girls, who spent a night in jail custody for their protest, will now be given appointment as constables, Mishra said, “I am not sure of this, but they should qualify now.”It was in October last year that the CM had announced a slash in height criteria for women police candidates. However, he had not specified by how much or when, only saying that the new rule will be in place before the next recruitment.On June 8, a group of constable aspirants said they would launch an agitation if the CM did not fulfil his promise. They said they had passed the written and physical examinations but were rejected because they fall short of the 158cm height criteria. Thereafter, nine of them started an agitation at Shahjahani Park in Bhopal.When their agitation went unnoticed, they barged into the CM’s public meeting at Lal Parade Grounds and raised slogans. Police bundled them away, charged them with not obeying instructions to disperse and put them in jail for the night. The girls claimed they were made to undergo pregnancy test in jail and upon release when to meet PCC chief Kamal Nath.

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