leena patil

I Firmly Believe in Reservations: Leena Patil, Superintendent of Police

A lady, who makes people work left and right; the one who keeps check on justice and strives for a better and peaceful society is the one we got a chance to speak to. Leena Patil, Superintendent of Police (SP), shares with us the important lessons that life has taught her. In this interview, she talks about the judiciary system, its work and also a little bit about the youth of today.

  • WP
    LP

    It was a dream-come-true when I entered the civil services. Though while preparing for entrance, I doubted my capabilities and thought that I would never clear this exam. But I did it with flying colors. I was more interested in joining the administrative services but could not make it through and so took up the police service. This is a general observation that usually, women avoid joining police service, but without such mental blocks in my mind, I took it up with a bang! And today, I don’t look back. I face and deal with the everyday challenges and come out successfully in most of the cases.

  • WP
    LP

    I must say this that today’s youth is more smart and intelligent than we were. They have a very decent Intelligence Quotient (IQ) but lack in the Emotional and Spiritual Quotient (EQ, SQ). They have become impatient due to the high amount of technology and communication they are exposed to. I would like to tell the youth, “Do not regret after working hard. Always do best in your field. Be motivated to take up civil service as it gives many opportunities and a big platform. It’s a job which will help you give back something to your society.”

  • WP
    LP

    It’s an advantage as well as a challenge. A person at young age has high energy, overflowing knowledge and is technologically updated. So there are high possibilities that a person of this age would be able to give cent percent to such services. The biggest challenge is that you do not have much experience to deal with the society at such tender age. If one becomes the Superintendent (SP) at young age only than at a medieval age can one become DYSP. It takes 10-15 years for such promotion to take place. One more challenge is that you have to find out what is wrong and what’s right with the presence of mind. Since one does not have much of field experience s/he really has to buck up to go ahead. Keeping away such advantages and challenges, the selection pattern of UPSC is really good and only the capable ones get selected. So, no worries!

  • WP
    LP

    I face challenges only as an ‘IPS officer’ and not as a ‘lady officer’. The credit goes to our training pattern held at Mussoorie and Hyderabad. We were never denoted as ‘lady officers’ but always as ‘officer trainees’. There was no gender discrimination nor were we assigned the duties of a lower job. In fact, the seniors gave us chance to show our talent and move ahead. The physical tasks given to us were also same as that of the gentlemen so, there was no scope of anyone being called as superior or inferior.

  • WP
    LP

    We should blame the whole society for breaking laws and just not the police officers as they are the part of society too. If a citizen pays 50 rupees to a traffic police just to get rid from a ticket for breaking laws or pays 500 rupees to get passport issued soon, then tell me who is at fault? Definitely the one who takes bribe is at fault but who gave him a chance to accept bribe? Citizens! They should understand that the system is for them, and they are not for the system. The point here is, instead of just sensitizing the system; empower the citizens with the basic rules and ask them to follow it strictly. Leave the rest on judiciary which keeps a check and balances the entire system. Let the rules and laws be implemented in a smooth manner.

  • WP
    LP

    Definitely a woman goes through a lot of problems while at work. At officer’s level, she gets a lot of facilities but otherwise she does not get any special facilities. A married lady constable with a two year old child cannot stay the whole night at the police station and it will be inhumane to bring her two year old child to the police station. There are even rules which can’t be overlooked. When we arrest a lady it is compulsory to have a lady constable with the custodian. There are even societal blockages which demand a ‘No’ for such challenging jobs and women themselves do not want to take up such jobs. I make sure that the women who work under me feel free even to raid a place or save people from anti- human trafficking. I also provide them with special cars for their work during midnight. Women usually go with the Indian Salwar Kameez when it comes to uniform. But, I strictly advice them to wear the normal one, as wearing a Dupatta during work is inconvenient. My only motto is to make them feel empowered!

  • WP
    LP

    We live in a society which is a mixed bag, so it is necessary that every community gets a chance to represent themselves. If I had to give an example, I would choose to have a woman officer to handle the issues as a woman would be able to handle women based matters more sensitively than anyone else. A woman actually faces those problems herself and so its easier for her to understand the issues more easily. I urge that if dalits have not been given a chance to prove themselves, then they should be given one. I firmly believe in reservation though, not the higher level reservation. People who have reached at the top most level do not need any special quota. The only thing I would like to say is - Presentation should be equal to Representation. The government has recently looked into this topic minutely and has come up with ‘Suraksha Setu’ where all forces are sensitized. The main aim of this initiative is to increase the proximity between the citizens and police.

  • WP
    LP

    It is very difficult to give one example but I will go with the recent one. The Dhanyavi incident where there was misunderstanding between two families. They had lost control over petty issues and our PSI and CPI had to rush immediately to mediate. They had said that they will compromise and there was peace at night, but again in the morning few of the ladies fought and things became violent as the weapons were out. Our guards were there to control the situation. Personally, I was very angry but I had to deal with that fragile issue nicely. I thought that if I will lose control, no parties would come under control and there are high chances that someone would even lose life. We strictly handled the situation well; detained both the parties and arrested the convicts as well as registered a case. Our SP had to intervene and help us, which in itself was a challenge since we required a senior’s help in this case because of our lack of experience to handle such a case. The lesson which I got from this incident is to be patient, firm and polite to get the best results.

  • WP
    LP

    The only thing I would like to say is – ‘Have faith in yourself and try to fulfill your dreams. Even if you don’t succeed in attaining that dream do not feel lost, but find positive things out of it and move ahead. I remember my UPSC days which drained me completely for three years with my constant hard work. I used to tell myself that even if I fail to clear the entrance I would have that level of knowledge and developed personality which would definitely take me to greater heights. Everyone should keep this in mind that god is with us and he won’t do any injustice with us. There is total justice in this world, so have faith in it.

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