The love for khaki

The first batch of women on the beat in Madurai district got inducted into Tamil Nadu Police on July 1, 1977. Today evening is going to be an emotional reunion for them.

June 30, 2017 04:58 pm | Updated 08:19 pm IST - MADURAI:

VETERANS: First batch of women cops in Tamil Nadu Police. From left: Josephin, Poongothai and Kalyani. 
Photo: R. Ashok

VETERANS: First batch of women cops in Tamil Nadu Police. From left: Josephin, Poongothai and Kalyani. Photo: R. Ashok

As Madurai kicked off MGR’s birth centenary celebrations on Friday, 61-year-old P.Kalyani recalled the days in 1980 when she was on Chief Minister’s security duty. “MGR made it memorable,” she says. “He came to Pandiyan Hotel and seeing women cops on duty he announced on-the-spot increment of Rs.50 for us. He was always very supportive of women employees and called us the loyal workers.”

Kalyani was 20 when she applied to join the police force. “It was 1976, four years after the first batch of women were recruited only for Chennai by Tamil Nadu Police, that an advertisement was published for the rest of TN. “I was good in sports and was desperately in need of job following the death of my father,” she reminisces. What she was not aware that there were 2,000 applicants for 13 Grade I Constable posts each for Madurai and Trichy.

When she cleared the written exam and a host of other physical fitness tests and reported at the Police Training Centre in Chetpet, she met a dozen more young girls from her region. All were to become thick friends in the years that followed marked with strict training and regimen to adhere to.

“Coming from mofussil areas, it was liberating for us to join the police department in those days. I wanted to wear the uniform,” says Kalyani’s batchmate, M.Poongothai, who was 23 when she reported for the training a day after her father’s funeral. If unemployment drove her, it was family circumstances that forced R.Josephine Amalarani to apply when she was just 18.

“When I met our Chennai batch of seniors on first day of training I felt we lacked their boldness and realised the hard work required to get that identity,” says Josephine who retired as Inspector last year after 40 years of service.

All three live in Madurai now and are in touch with their batchmates, who are coming to Madurai from Bangalore, Trichy, Karur, Thanjavur, Pondicherry for a special felicitation function today evening. “We are celebrating our reunion after 40 years exactly on the day we all first met as young adults. Today, all of us are retired and most of us are grandmothers!” says Kalyani.

Though these women were posted in different areas during their careers, they remained in touch and made it a point to attend together each other’s functions like birthdays and weddings. “We also quarrelled but they were like bubbles that burst instantly and it would be back to laughter and cheering and encouraging each other,” adds Kalyani.

“We sometimes met on common duty at public meetings and rallies or VIP bandobast,” says Poongothai, recalling her moment of pride when she gave the Guard of Honour to J.Jayalalithaa when the latter came to inaugurate the first All Women Police Station at Tallakulam. “And Kalyani was in the reception team and offered the scissors to the CM for ribbon cutting!”

Josephine can’t forget the first day when all of them reported to the Police Control Room at Crime Branch. “Wearing the police uniform we felt equal to our male counterparts even though the then SP, Selvaraj, treated us like daughters and we were never put on duty after 6 p.m.”

Joining the police service made them bold and brave, they echo, even as they were in minority in a male-exclusive department till then and were thrown into difficult situations. Kalyani remembers when she was put on Corporation election duty just after she returned from three months maternity leave. She was not allowed to go home during lunch hours to breastfeed her baby and that hurt her immensely. Today, the situation has changed as there are more women in the department who understand and also maternity leave has been extended to nine months.

“We primed our bonding when there were no mobiles or social media,” points out Poongothai. Memories of 5 a.m. walk, 7 a.m. parade, six hours of law classes and evening exercise and parade in a green-bordered white sari and a pair of white canvas shoes during the year-long training period will remain forever, she says. For, that was the leap they took in their lives.

“After six months of training we were given Khaki pants and full shirts, black boots, belt and cap and that was another transition we underwent in our physical fitness and stamina,” says Kalyani. “If the attire changed our body language and bolstered confidence, the last three months of weapon training (with 303 pistols and 410 Musket rifles) made us feel we were no more shy and timid,” adds Poongothai.

So did they ever wield guns while on an operation? No, but the training made us feel like soldiers, says Kalyani, a 2004 recipient of Chief Minister’s Medal.

Poongothai feels privileged that as a three year old she had the opportunity of garlanding Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru when he was en route Palani Temple. And when Indira Gandhi visited Madurai Meenakshi Temple in 1980, she was on VIP duty with her.

Though their promotions got delayed, these women cops don’t rue about any missed opportunities. They feel their jobs brought them into spotlight and they brought female safety in their areas of work to spotlight. The list of dowry, suicide, rape and harassment cases they handled over the years is long. “Having more women in the police is crucial for protecting rights of women and girls as it facilitates their access to justice,” the trio reiterates.

QUOTES:

There is no denying that women help in building a more inclusive and responsive police force. In the 70s, it was kind of evolution in police department as women policing was needed to create a human face and cater to the demand and the nature of cases. The first batch’s experience in a male dominated department would have been different and more challenging than what it is today. They were in minority and with social taboos. But today the role of women police is much more diversified -- Shailesh Kumar Yadav, Commissioner of Police, Madurai city

“Women are more empathetic to cases that come to them and have a different way of policing based more on communications.” -- M.Poongothai

“There were occasions when we depended on our male colleagues for help but the young girls joining the police today are all confident individuals by themselves.” -- R.Jospehine Amalarani

“They do 24X7 duty, go on night patrolling and maintain their powers more assertively and gracefully.” -- P.Kalyani

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