Real Salute

Kiran Bedi, the first woman to join the Indian Police Service in 1972, is a former Asian women’s lawn tennis champion, academician, author, activist, and the first woman police advisor to head the Civilian Police Division in the United Nations Department to Peace Keeping Operations. But she is best known for the extraordinary reforms she brought inside Tihar, the largest and most notorious jail in India.

We are the products of our environment. What was the environment and lessons learnt that have made you exceed beyond yourself?

My paternal grandfather was a chauvinistic feudal man, who didn’t believe in the equality of sexes. My father had four daughters and looked at life differently. I am the second of four daughters and all of us saw our parents go beyond their means to bring us up. They became our inspiration and excelling came naturally. The biggest lesson I learnt from them was that love inspires you to great heights and one must stand up for what one believes in fearlessly.

You became the first woman to join the Indian Police. What motivated you to opt for IPS?

It was the inherent power in policing that attracted me. I was looking to join a profession that would give me the opportunity to produce visible, assured results in changing society for the better.

There were doubts obviously. In fact the men hoped that I would change my mind and go elsewhere, but I had just returned as Asian women’s tennis champion, a very tough feat so they already knew that I had the will, the determination and the endurance. Their confused minds were trying to figure out-where does she fit in? I went from being referred to as that chokri, to Madam and then later when I had proved my mettle many times to sir!
 
What are the milestones in your career that you are proud of most? Your posting as traffic police chief created quite a rumble! You were rechristened Crane Bedi from Kiran Bedi.”!

I must start with 1980 with my post in district policing where we introduced good policies in community policing. As a result bootleggers got reformed, and sales of illicit liquor stopped. We received tremendous community support and that is key for the police in combating crime.

I think traffic in India has always been a challenge and at that time the 1982 Asian Games were coming up and we had to handle the traffic there. I gave orders that any violators would be towed away and no one was spared, not even Mrs. Gandhi’s car which was found parked on the wrong side in Connaught Place. She however was not there at that time. A large numbers of cranes were used to haul away violators and hence the name… The law applied to every one equally.

You have come close to death twice. What goes through the mind of a cop who is also a woman and a mother?

What can you think? One of the times I had a close brush with death was in 1979 when angry Akali Sikhs in hundreds rushed towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. We didn’t have enough officers. I just had my baton to deflect their naked swords. My officers beat a hasty retreat and I just rushed forward helmet in hand and my baton. In spite of receiving some blows I managed to push them back. Another time we were facing miscreants in the narrow by lanes of Delhi. They were throwing acid in bottles from above but they would somehow get deflected. I guess someone from above was watching over me. My family used to worry about my well being, but I had chosen to do this and I’m not the kind of person to back off. Somehow you find the strength within.

You’ve acted in a documentary and inspired many movies on women cops! There were also TV serials inspired by you. How was it facing the camera to act?

The cool thing is they have made sure even in the South Indian films where women are more curvaceous to keep the women cops slim! But they do better stunts than I have done in real life! Jokes apart, I feel really happy that very rarely do you see a woman cop being portrayed as corrupt or violent. Today there is a total acceptance of women police officers in the urban centers. In the rural areas there is some curiosity, but at the same time they too have a lot of respect for women police officers.

*Real Salute,* where I acted, is a documentary on national integration. The idea evolved when the film’s directors happened to walk through a village in Gurgaon and saw the Indian flag, torn, and dumped in a garbage can. I play an aged rag picker who sees the flag and ripping her sari replaces the torn green portion of the flag with it, sews it up and hoists the flag up proudly and joyfully.
Looking at your national flag, the pride you feel evokes deep emotions naturally, so it wasn’t tough to emote.

Lets talk about your crowning glory- the innovative changes you made at Tihar Jail. Its now called Tihar Ashram.!

Ninety percent of the people in Tihar jail were under trials. The only reforms programs around the world are for people who have been convicted. The uniqueness of our program was that it was for any body inside the prison, whether he was there for 10 days or 10 years.

There were individual voices that protested the changes but they were drowned in the overwhelming acceptance of the reforms.

I still remember my first day in Tihar. There were prisoners in hundreds, looking subdued and silent. I had also heard someone had bitten the finger off of one of my predecessors, because he got too close. My first question to these people was-Do you pray? They did not answer. I asked again and then hesitatingly someone said yes. We sang “Ae malik tere bande hum” with closed eyes. My fingers remained intact. A bond was formed that day.

The reforms we introduced inspired other states to introduce in their prisons. These were not restricted by the budget, but were run by volunteers who were committed to changing the horrible conditions under which the prisoners were living. We had doctors, educators, and spiritual leaders, motivational speakers counselors come in and do their bit. Books were sent by publishers and schools. Vipasshana meditation was introduced in the jail.

Several success stories came out of Tihar jail thanks to all these reforms. Can you share some?

There was a Japanese boy who never talked, never smiled. I was told by fellow prisoners “Madam, he loves the guitar.” We got him a guitar. He started to play and went on to become a musician. Last year I got a letter from a man in Kashmir who was now conducting computer classes in Kashmir in a study center which he invited me to inaugurate. Another prisoner is now one of Bombay’s most promising lawyers who help rehabilitate people like himself. Another guy, a Norwegian, undertook the vipasshna meditation, went back to Norway and set up a meditation center. All of Norway is rallying around him.