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| Sunday, 12 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Kiran Bedi : She dared to care
Some were surprised, some were cynical, and some were even hostile, when she entered the male-dominated police service in India. But nothing and no one could deter her from the chosen path, Dr. Kiran Bedi, the first Indian woman to enter the police service weathered the difficulties of the initial years of service in the police with remarkable aplomb. And today she can take credit not only for the reformation of thousands of prisoners, also for the transformation of the Tihar Prison, from a school of criminality to a school of humanity. With an inmate population of 9,000, Tihar is the largest prison in South East Asia. Short-haired and of medium-build and barely meeting the police height requirement, Dr. Kiran, who is in her fifties, declares, "I am a disciplinarian", in a police-trained, stentorian tone. Her chin-up stature and disciplinary outlook betrays the traits of her charismatic leadership as a police officer. Yet her humble demeanour and her down-to-earth simplicity rings a different bell altogether. Her calm and focused thinking pattern, her dynamism, her sensitivity to justice, her repugnance to all forms of discrimination, her love for the poor and the deprived, are a mixture of fine qualities that is fit for a successful personality. And that is exactly who she is. A successful woman, who blazed a glorious path in the male dominated sphere of police work, creating a niche that none can match and only few can follow. Dr. Kiran is a woman of contrasting characteristics, that are both admirable and unique. With a strong willpower, she meets challenges head on. Both, a disciplinarian and a humanitarian influenced in the latter by Mahatma Gandhi, and the former by her grandfather, she has acquired a reputation as a 'humane' police officer, juxtaposing the opposites. Born to a family of four girls, Kiran studied at Sacred Heart Convent School and graduated in English (Honours) at the Government College in Punjab. She completed her Masters in Political Science at the Punjab University and her LLB at the Delhi University. She also obtained a Ph.D from the Department of Social Sciences, in the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. Her thesis was on 'Drug abuse and domestic violence'. In addition, she has another feather to her cap, representing India against Sri Lanka in Tennis and carrying the prestigious Lionel Fonseka Memorial Trophy for her country. Her love for tennis comes from her father who was an excellent tennis player. As a girl she saw a lot of differentiations in society - the difference between the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong and between the two sexes. This had a deep impact on her and she made up her mind never to fall prey to any form of differenciation. In order to avoid such a situation, she felt she needed to be in a commanding position and be with the haves, so that she could then help the less fortunate. She grew from childhood to adulthood with this deeply ingrained in her mind and did everything possible to achieve her goal of being among the 'haves'. It was this mindset that led her to join the police service. And it remains the same even today. Kiran was the first woman to join the Indian Police Service and today she is the first policewoman in India to hold the highest post in the Police service. "I wasn't fascinated by the glamour of the uniform, the stars pinned onto the lapels of the collar or the pomp and pageantry that goes with the police service. What attracted me to the police service, was what it could give me," she elaborates. "To me the Police is a powerful service and can deliver justice, where justice is due. And I was very sensitive to the injustices prevailing at that time." The transformation that took place in the Tihar Prison began with her mission statement: "To help prisoners not to return to the prisons. This was her ultimate desire for prisoners." She knew that it had to be spiritual education that would bring in the reformation, not punishment. She started with self-awareness and identified education and human as areas which needed modification. Kiran Bedi introduced education programmes by opening a branch of the Indira Gandhi Open University inside the prisons and by conducting 'Vipassana Meditation' and getting NGOs to participate in the process. The results were astounding and her mission's statement was met. "Two days ago I was in Srinagar and there were many prisoners who served prison terms during my time, but had now become teachers. They opened a school and named it 'Kiran Loss School' to honour me. These teachers said the school was the result of the good work initiated ten years ago, says Dr. Kiran, proudly claiming that the former prisoners had also formed a group called 'Tihar Alumni' which has spread worldwide. Her unrelenting perse verance, stubborn determination and her 3C Model (Corrective, Collective and Community based) ideals enabled her to metamorphasise the mindsets of the prisoners and achieve this Herculean task. One of the most challenging decisions made by Dr. Kiran was to ban smoking in prisons. A survey revealed that fifty per cent of prisoners were not in favour of smoking, while another fifty per cent were in favour. She chose to go with the former in the interest of the prisoners' health as many were prone to various smoke-related sicknesses. However, when she announced the ban, the smokers went on a death fast and threated that she would find them hanging from the beams of the ceiling, the next day. Their threat did not deter her. Having made the decision, she was determined to stick to it and not give in to the prisoners'. It took about 10 days for things to settle down and smoking has never been allowed in the prisons since. "Tihar Prison is the only prison which does not entertain smoking", she says proudly. Kiran Bedi, the police woman with a heart, and a strong will to change the existing status-quo has won many awards nationally and internationally. She was awarded the 'Ramon Magsay Award' for government service in 1994. It was the first time that such an award was given to a police officer in Asia and perhaps even the first time a police officer received an award for peace and reforms anywhere in the world. She initiated 'Navjyoty' in 1986, for the rehabilitation and treatment of drug addicts. Upto-date over 12,000 drug addicts have been rehabilitated. This humanitarian effort was recognised by the United Nations, whih awarded her 'Surge Sotyroff Memorial Award' in 1999. Kiran also set up the India Vision Foundation to facilitate Prison Reform, Crime Prevention, Education, Rural Development, Physical and Mental Disabilities and Sports Promotions. She has accomplished a great deal in the field of children's education and through these projects, children of prisoners are educated under the "Crime Home Children Project". Children in slums through the "Gali School Project" (Gali means street in Hindi) which has established schools literally at their doorstep. Kiran's motive is to save the next victim while rehabilitating the present one. Her only daughter Saina Bedi now directs the foundations. Kiran Bedi has not stopped with this, but has delved into her leisure and written three books - 'What went wrong', 'It's always posdsible' and 'As I see.' She authored the 'government@net'. Two biographies of Kiran Bedi titled 'I dare' and 'The Kindly Baton' has also been published. 'Idare' was translated into Sinhala and launched at the Taj Hotel Colombo recently. While in Sri Lanka, Dr. Kiran visited the Welikada Prison and was impressed with the medication programme drawn out to reform prisoners. She was also appreciative of the work done in prisons by Rumy Marzook, Commissioner General of Prison and invited him to visit the Delhi Prison from where he could observe further improvements that need to be done locally. Presently she is on deputation to the United Nations, as Civilian Police Adviser in the Department of Peacekeeping Operation. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Dr. Kiran Bedi .... India's super cop responsible for transforming the
largest prison in South East Asia from a school of criminality to a school
of humanity, was in Sri Lanka last week, to launch the Sinhala translation
of her biography 'I dare'. In a tete-a-tete with Suresh Mohamed, she talks
about her life and her decision to join the police force.
