INDIA: First ever female police officer resigns
Updated
India's first woman police officer, Kiran Bedi, has announced that she's retiring after an illustrious 35 year career.
She was also the first woman to lead an all male contingent of Delhi police at the Republic Day parade in 1975. She's stepping down just months after she was bypassed for the prestigious post of Delhi police commissioner.
Presenter: Girish Sawlani
Speakers: India's first woman police officer, Kiran Bedi who has announced she is resigning after 35 years
SAWLANI: Renowned for being a tough no-nonsense police officer who campaigned vigorously for the rights of women and children in India, Kiran Bedi was an Asian and national tennis champion before joining the Indian police service in 1972.
It was in the early 1980's where she shot to fame after being responsible for towing away the vehicle of then prime minister Indira Gandhi for illegal parking.
But her greatest legacy will be the reforms she introduced to Tihar jail, one of South Asia's biggest prisons, where she introduced detoxification programmes, Yoga and literacy classes to improve the livelihood of criminals.
BEDI: Its a whole new definition of policing. Whatever I highlighted without any deliberate effort was priority was crime prevention which led to a concept called welfare policing. So its all a new concept for welfare policing through true community policing through the power of prevention. Even when I worked in the prison I worked on reforms to prevent the repeat of crime, to prevent coming back to prison to prevent repeat of murders and terrorist acts et cetera and that's what led to reform in the prisoners which became a movement in the country by itself.
SAWLANI: How different is it now for women to enter into the public service as compared to when you became India's first female police officer?
BEDI: Well, they had no expectations of a woman cop. They women cops may need personal security, they thought women could be just relegated to the desk, in fact they thought that woman as a head of the police district, crime increased. Now its different, now they feel that a woman cop means greater accessibility, a woman cop means hopefully better integrity, a woman cop means no violence, a woman cop means greater protection of human rights. So now they have a different perspective and different expectations for women cops.
SAWLANI: How did you overcome gender bias that's deeply entrenched in Indian society and do you think you've helped to inspire women in India?
BEDI: Well gender bias existed even then when I joined. People did not know, my colleagues probably did not know, all my seniors did not know what to expect of me. Then, I could immediately see discrimination. I could find my way to break through that and not to fall victim of it and on the contrary, ride over that bias. Now the bias is still existing but women have the courage now to fight against it and then break through it and seek the position. Even though the bias still exists, it becomes much more visible, its getting much more exposed and media is now also picking up a voice against it.
SAWLANI: One of the things you'll always be remembered for is being responsible for having the former prime minster Indira Gandhi's car towed away for illegal parking. Tell us what happened then?
BEDI: Well I've always in the equality before the law. If the law needs any leniency, or need any compassion, it'll be for the marginalised sections, for the ignorant, the poor and the week. Not for the literate, not for the powerful and not for the very important persons. They have a higher responsibility to observe and respect the law. So therefore, Mrs Gandhi's car was also not spared, because Mrs. Gandhi's staff needed to know they were not above the law. That helped me do much better traffic enforcement in those days because when people saw that even the Prime Minister's vehicle is not spared, they all have to follow suit.
SAWLANI: You stepped down months after you were overlooked for the position of Delhi police commissioner, and I understand that the position was given to a man junior to you in terms of rank and experience, were you disappointed with the decision?
BEDI: The point is these top positions are politically decided. They have under the law, the right to the last word. Though this is contrary to the Supreme Court decision on police reform, Supreme Court had clearly ruled that there should be a new commission, there should be a new committee, which looks at these issues and these issues should be transparent. But they did have their way.
SAWLANI: Was that the reason why you left the force?
BEDI: It could be a trigger factor but then I realised that this time of my life is not to mark time but to move on after all I've invested, my family's invested, we all invested all our lives and energy into doing the right thing, continue to contribute to grow. The larger good is my goal and in no way is being personal or selfish good.
SAWLANI: As the curtain goes down on an illustrious police career, Kiran Bedi is now looking forward to focusing on social work through her two non-governmental organisations.
BEDI: Now to do something wider. While its inclusive of police reforms but now to go into larger social issues which are all into nation building. Its time to expand my horizons. I have been focusing on issues of police and prison reform. I've been into issues of women empowerment. I am into issues of girl-child education. In fact, I have two very large NGOs which are addressing these issues for the last twenty years. So I'll go deeper into these issues now with more time in hand and to spread out to all over the country as much as I can most selflessly, without any personal need.
