The force of two policewomen

Like Marie-Lou, Kiran also quit her place of duty, in fact, on more than one occasion without waiting for official approval —once in Goa and then in Mizoram. The compulsion of her daughter’s education prompted her to dare, a word I have borrowed from her own book, I Dare. Wherever she has served she has made a mark, albeit in a very distinctive manner which has been frowned upon by her colleagues and politicians.

Marie-Lou gave no such provocation. But she was a rebel in a sense, as she could not stomach the shenanigans of those among her colleagues and, more importantly, her superiors, who kowtowed to politicians in order to feather their own nests or further their careers. Yet, when the government faced criticism after a hooch tragedy in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs, Marie-Lou was sent to repair the damage.

These two women are not the only honest female officers in the IPS. There are numerous others of high integrity, performing their duty quietly while walking really tight ropes. In fact one such officer, Meera Borwankar, consciously avoided the media so that she did not cause any provocation to her seniors and colleagues. My objective assessment is that she contributed greatly to the suppression of crime in Mumbai by discouraging the sharpshooters in the force who, I suspect, had a vested interest in keeping extortionists in business. Her juniors were in awe of her.

There are also many good male officers of the same calibre who continue to perform quietly and without fanfare. The people are happy that there are such officers who still care about their safety and well-being and on whom they can rely in difficult times. At present, Mumbai is greatly blessed by the presence of some senior officers of this calibre who I shall not name in order to spare them the embarrassment.

Maharashtra’s IPS cadre was perturbed by media speculation that Dr Pasricha, the DGP, and Mr Jadhav, commissioner of police, Mumbai, were to be given extensions in service. This would effectively delay the promotions of numerous officers down the line who wait for their seniors to retire gracefully. A bad precedent would be set if officers are given extensions without justification. The demoralisation that would set in was something that had to be considered by the authorities before they capitulated to parochial pressures. The PM and Union home minister were alerted about the danger of acceding to such requests.

The reason I write this piece is that I bemoan the fact that many good officers are quitting the service in disgust. A prominent example is of Arvind Inamdar, who like Kiran Bedi put in his papers a few months before retirement when he was summarily removed from the post of DGP, because he would not give in to those who were then running the transfer industry in the state. More recently you have the case of Y.P. Singh, an officer of impeccable integrity, who decided to go one step further than merely remaining honest — by actually fighting corruption. This frightened the entrenched seniors who then succeeded in sidelining him, forcing him to fight the system from outside.

This is an appeal to civil society to come out strongly in favour of the good and honest so that they are not targeted or sidelined by a corrupt system. It is in society’s interest to have the good and honest in critical posts. The decision of Bedi and Fernandes to dare should waken us from our slumber.

The writer is a former director general of Punjab Police

editor@expressindia.com