By IANS
New Delhi : Kiran Bedi, a much-decorated police officer and the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972, has shot off a letter to the home ministry seeking voluntary retirement, citing “personal reasons”.
“I have written to the home ministry for voluntary retirement for personal reasons and I have no idea if it has been accepted. At present I am serving a mandatory notice period of 90 days,” Bedi said.
“Earlier I was pursuing social and academic works along with my duty. Now I can only focus on my personal interests. Before taking any new challenge I will complete my book on leadership,” she told IANS, adding that she would continue working against social evils like child labour, drug abuse and dowry.
Asked if she quit because she was superseded for the post of Delhi Police Commissioner in July this year, Bedi said: “It was a thing of past and life moves on.”
Bedi said she would not join politics but would continue working in the public domain.
A 1972-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Bedi was keen to take charge of the Delhi Police force she has served in various capacities. But the government appointed Y.S. Dadwal as the commissioner of Delhi Police, though he is two years her junior.
Bedi had then criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for ignoring her experience and seniority.
A law graduate from Delhi University, Bedi was the first woman to join the IPS. She was also a former all-India and all-Asia tennis champion.
Bedi became a household name in the Indian capital when she took charge of Delhi Traffic Police, earning in the process the sobriquet “Crane Bedi” because of her penchant for using cranes to remove vehicles parked illegally on roads.
She then went on to hold several posts, including deputy inspector general of police in Mizoram, inspector general of police in Chandigarh, director general of Narcotics Control Bureau, inspector general of police at Tihar Jail, joint commissioner of police training and as special commissioner in charge of intelligence.
She then went on deputation to the United Nations. She won the Magasaysay Award for government service and later became the director general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), the post she holds now.