Mrs fingerprints

If anyone dare suggest that your seventies are meant to be a time to relax, Rukmani Krishnamurthy would burst out laughing. At 74, the sari-clad forensic investigator, with a red bindi and silver hair, is busy learning new skills to lead a team of experts that helps the police and the public alike.

Born as the sixth child to a PWD official-homemaker couple in Nagpur, Krishnamurthy is India’s first female forensic scientist. “My parents were very open-minded; they always said I should do something for society without any expectation,” she says. That support is what fuelled her decision to take up a job at the Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories. “After completing my MSc in analytical chemistry, I had three options: to take up a lecturer post in a government institute, to take up a clerk job at the RBI, or to take up the appointment as a scientist at FSL,” she says. “I had the option to stay in Nagpur with either option one or two, but I chose to go to Mumbai.”

On her very first day in office, one of her seniors quipped: “What would a lady do in FSL?” It was the opening shot in a battle she would fight for years. And fight she did.