Book Review | A badass female IPS officer shares her journey

IPS Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar’s book is as straightforward as the highly decorated officer surely is. The first woman commissioner of police narrates swathes of her experiences from a colourful 36-year career and often her punches come straight from the shoulder. Considering that police forces across the country remain eminently corruptible and heavily politicised, this is a long and apt lesson for all IPS aspirants on how to keep your spine straight while negotiating the narrow, treacherous alleys of policing.

Borwankar’s credibility is at an all-time high now that she, as one of the five key petitioners, succeeded in convincing the Supreme Court of India to deliver a massive judgement, dismissing the remission order of the Gujarat government on 11 criminals in the Bilkis Bano gang rape and multiple murder cases.

Having graduated from India’s National Police Academy as the sole woman of its 1981 batch, her journey through the system sometimes took her through dirty patches, as well as challenges that built her into the highly respected police officer she was known to be.

As she sums it up at the end, it was a journey, of which she enjoyed every minute, with a passion for living life to the fullest. The book remains a heart-warming account, sans excessive colouring, somewhat in the same stern, yet subtle vein she had handled an interloper ‘RJ’ who had made an improper proposal at the academy.

Overlooking a few avoidable proofing errors, one finds the writing style brisk, with a no-nonsense approach that was only expected of her. Also, in typical, disciplined police order, the book is organised in sections, of which one is Notes and the other is Abbreviations.

Once you get past the introductory pages, the book seeps into your psyche. She narrates critical cases through her career — the Jalgaon sex scandal, a massive jewellery heist, of outstation highway dacoits, communal strife, murders, her experiences at Bombay port, financial frauds, a brush with criminal Chhota Rajan and associates and even Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar — with clinical detail, yet in simple absorbing language.

Borwankar’s rationale for writing this book is expressed in her preface. She says: “This book is a record of the professional journey of a woman officer in a male-dominated police domain...” She minces no words in describing her position, vis-a-vis the overtly masculine disposition of the Indian police force.

Some of the most interesting areas of her experience came while she was the head of prisons in the state of Maharashtra. When the President rejected the final appeal of Ajmal Kasab she describes how she had to oversee the execution in absolute secrecy, avoiding the prying eyes of the media and through intense government pressure. At the same time, she would observe the change in the behaviour of Kasab, from a violent man to a quiet, contemplative person, waiting for the inevitable.

Her handling of the imprisonment of Sanjay Dutt and also the execution of Yakub Memon have been narrated in detail and with clarity, yet keeping unnecessary emotion at arm’s length.

Similarly, while narrating her career in uniform, she keeps at a distance many of her personal issues. She acknowledges the many helping hands from her husband and family — such as the initial launch pad she got through her father, who was with Punjab Police and then was the BSF commandant — but never dwells on them for any length of time.

In her direct, unaffected way she explains the inner workings of the police force. She shows how the much maligned police also have serious, diligent and honest officers, which is why the forces are still functional.

Through her writing she exhibits stellar control over her emotions, even while acknowledging the contributions from lower ranked people, such as Yadav Ustad, who was a trainer at the academy and taught her public address in a “high authoritative voice”.

The book’s worth is for its character and detail in content.

The reviewer is a senior journalist, author, part-time entrepreneur and traveller

Madam Commissioner: The Extraordinary Life of an Indian Police Chief

By Meeran Chadha Borwankar

Published by Pan

pp. 296; Rs 342