For the past one year, 29-year-old Siddanthi Prathap, a constable working in Hyderabad’s Charminar police station, has been trying to get married. However, prospective brides have been rejecting his proposal as he is a constable. Upset over the constant rejection, Prathap decided to quit the service and submitted his resignation letter to the Hyderabad Police Commissioner earlier on Saturday – which has now gone viral.

Prathap, who is an engineering graduate, joined the service in 2014. In his resignation letter he said that he was ‘highly disturbed and depressed with the job’ after being rejected by prospective brides, who told him that they didn’t want to marry him due to his job as a constable, which did not have much benefits, had limited growth and long working hours.

“As I am a constable one of the marriage proposals was rejected. Later I asked my relatives why the girl rejected, and they said that constables will work for 24 hours,” (sic) Prathap said in his letter. He stated that the prospective bride pointed out that there was no growth in the job, adding that Prathap would retire as a constable. “For which I was highly disturbed and depressed with my job,” he further wrote.

Raising some very pertinent points about the work conditions of police constables, he added, “I have been observing senior constables who retired from services as constables after serving 35-40 years without any promotion in the job… In other departments, SI and above rank officers are given promotions and other benefits such as vehicle and petrol, but for constables there are no promotions or other allowances.”

Speaking to TNM, Prathap said, “I have been trying to get married for the past one year. I met two prospective brides from Hyderabad, but they rejected my proposal due to my job as a constable. So I decided to quit.”

However, Prathap’s parents are against the idea. “My parents want me to continue with the service. ‘You worked so hard to get this job, why do you want to quit,’ they say,” Prathap said, adding, “I can get brides from other rural districts and towns, but I want an educated woman from the city. As I grew up in a city, I want a woman from an urban area.”

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar has directed the department to offer counseling to Prathap so that he may reconsider his decision.

“I’m not sure now. I was firm about quitting the service earlier, but since the Commissioner has asked me to go through counseling, I am yet to make up my mind,” Prathap said.