Assertive role model

                         By K.P.S Gill

 AT A TIME when it was thought women would not make good police officers, Kiran Bedi fought her way to join the Indian Police Service. Having joined, she did very well. She did a very challenging job of running the traffic police in Delhi and enforced discipline in Delhi’s drivers, who are notoriously undisciplined. There was much more discipline among the drivers then than now.

 Kiran, then did a remarkable job in Tihar Jail. She has this great ability to communicate. It leaves a tremendous impression on the people she meets and she has caught the imagination of the people, women especially.

 I come across a large number of people who treat her as a role model. Kiran is assertive. I think that makes all the difference, though I have never worked with her. I don’t think we have reached a stage where there is gender equality. The male would not easily accept a female as a role model. I do not think, to that extent, she is a role model to the male officers.

Reasons for Choice

I had tried to get her on deputation to the Punjab Police during the years of terrorism. Somehow it did not work. There were a lot of complaints of corruption within the police. I wanted to set up an internal vigilance cell. I thought she would be the best person to head it, but it did not work out.

 Other than qualities like honesty and the ability to communicate, she has a great sense of time management and she gets a lot of things done. Kiran belongs to the Union Territory Cadre and probably one day she will become the commissioner of police in Delhi. It will be good to see how she functions then. It would be the real test for her as police officer. A commissioner is required to be versatile and she is a versatile person.

( K.P.S Gill is Former Director General of Police, Punjab )