'More women reporting crimes against them is welcome change'

AUTHOR & RETIRED IPS OFFICER

- Meeran Chadha Borwankar, an IPS officer of the 1981 batch, was the first woman to become a district police chief in Maharashtra, and then a police commissioner as well.

Meeran Chadha Borwankar, an IPS officer of the 1981 batch, was the first woman to become a district police chief in Maharashtra, and then a police commissioner as well. Having retired as Director General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, and Director General of the National Crime Records Bureau, Borwankar wrote two books about her time in the police services —Leaves of Life (2017) and Madam Commissioner: The Extraordinary Life of an Indian Police Chief (2023). At the second edition of the Crime Literature Festival of India, Borwankar talks with Garima Sadhwani about her journey. Edited excerpts:

Tell us about the challenges you faced as a woman IPS officer.

When I joined in 1981, I was the only woman in my batch. I was made to feel unwelcome by my batchmates in the National Police Academy. Every day the message sent to me by their actions was that this is no place for a woman.