She has inspired thousands of people especially women to come out from the shell. She is Ms. Manjari Jaruhar one of the first five lady IPS officers in the country and first in Bihar. In the first part of the feature, we wrote about her struggle in being recognized and accepted in the state. Here, we will share some of the achievements from her journey and how she sees the future of lady officers in the country.
GENDER BIAS
Being the First Lady IPS in Bihar her journey was obviously tough. She had to wait for months to get a posting in Sub-Division (ASP, Danapur) and even after doing well, on promotion she was again sent as SP to CID for a desk job. When asked if she ever felt opposition against her posting she says, “It happened all the time. When I was sent to Danapur as ASP then also the senior SP and local leaders were unhappy with my posting. The same happened in 1983, before I was sent as SP, Bokaro. At one time I was told by the DG that I was likely to be posted to Vaishali but the confirmation never came. He then told me that my posting was cancelled because the local minister was opposed to it.”
All these changed after she took charge as SP, Bokaro and served there for three years. That was a turning moment in her career. She got many challenging jobs which gave her immense job satisfaction.
SELECTED FOR TRAINING OF IPS
In 1986 she was selected to train the IPS probationers at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. In her recent book ‘Madam Sir’, she has mentioned, “It was a big opportunity for me as not every IPS officer gets to train the IPS probationers. I was selected on the basis of my performance in the field. Former IPS officer and Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Mr. Julio Ribeiro selected me based on my performance and ACR.”
Ms. Jaruhar stayed in NPA from 1986 to 1991 and trained five batches of IPS probationers. Talking to Indian Masterminds she said, “It was a challenging job and specially for a woman to train men officers. However, I enjoyed each and every day. I take immense pride in saying that today most DGsP of this country across the states were my probationers.”
WHEN MR. ADVANI PRAISED HER
She was the First Lady officer in Bihar and she says smilingly, “While it is thrilling to be the first, one has to set norms & precedents for those who will follow. People looked at me with doubts and curiosity. They were skeptical about my capabilities and I had to work with mental discipline & integrity.”
Recalling another incident, she mentioned about her posting as Director of CRPF Internal Security Academy in Mount Abu. The officers were doubtful about her capabilities. Since she had good experience in NPA the CRPF officers found out that she knew quite a bit about training. In the passing out parade of CRPF officers, Mr. L K Advani, who was the chief guest was taken by surprise and he remarked in his speech that it was for the first time that he had seen a lady officer heading a paramilitary training academy and it was a matter of great pride.
PREJUDICES STILL EXIST
When Ms. Jaruhar started there were few women in the country. Now, almost every state has around 10 to 15 lady IPS officer who are doing a great job. This she finds very satisfying. Although, she says that things have changed, but lady officers still face push back in some states. “Though prejudices do exist generally people are happy to accept lady officers but the numbers are still very low. So, a long fight is on”, she concluded.
Ms. Jaruhar also said that now many lady officers are getting addressed as Madam only and there is no Sir. This itself is a big achievement.
