New Delhi: An inquiry has been ordered after photos surfaced in media, showing aspirants for the post of police constable had their caste categories written on their bare chests in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district.Photographs in various newspapers showed aspirants with “SC” (Scheduled Caste), “ST” (Scheduled Tribe) and “G” (General) marked with sketch pens on their chests as they queued up for their medical examination yesterday, triggering a massive debate on social media.Dhar superintendent of police Virendra Singh today told PTI that he had ordered an inquiry into the incident, to be conducted by a deputy SP rank officer.“The incident occurred yesterday when the District Medical Board was carrying out the medical examination of these candidates,” he said.Singh said those conducting the medical examination process had told police that the markings were made to tell apart candidates belonging to different categories as the physical requirements for each of these categories were different under the reservation policy.“However, they should have used other ways to differentiate. This is a serious matter,” the SP said.According to state DGP Rishi Kumar Shukla, there was no ‘bad intent’ behind the move, though it should have been avoided. “It was a precautionary measure to ensure there was transparency in the physical measurements for these categories,” he told Hindustan Times. “I have given instructions to the district police to remove the markings, if any, and to ensure there is no recurrence.”The medical tests were being conducted by a board headed by Dr Sushil Kumar Khare, a civil surgeon at the district hospital, according to Hindustan Times. Khare claimed that the health department was not involved in putting the markings on people.“We conduct medical examination of the candidates sent by the police department. We sit in a hall and each candidate is taken before a doctor as per schedule and he is accompanied by a constable. I pointed out when I saw the ‘O’ written on the chest of a candidate. I was told by the policeman that ‘O’ is for OBC. I think it was done by the police department to identify the candidates from different sections and avoid a mix-up,” he told the newspaper.Several activists have spoken out against the move, calling it openly discriminatory and a human rights violation. “Such branding amounted to atrocities on the constables. The guilty must be punished,” Indresh Gajbhiye, president of the Ambedkar Shodh Sansthan, told Hindustan Times.(With PTI inputs)