Kiran Bedi Turns 73: Kiran Bedi, India’s first female Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was born on June 9, 1949, and today she is celebrating her 73rd birthday. Born in Amritsar in a Punjabi business family, Kiran Bedi is an Indian politician, social activist, retired police officer and tennis player. She served as the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from May 28, 2016, to February 16, 2021. She joined the Indian Police Service in 1972 and remained in service for 35 years before she took voluntary retirement in 2007 as Director-General, Bureau of Police Research and Development.
On her birthday, here are some lesser-known facts about her journey and achievements:
- Born in a Punjabi business family, Bedi’s upbringing was not religious. However, she was brought up in both Hindu and Sikh traditions.
- She was educated in a Christian school- Sacred Heart Convent. Bedi also took part in National Cadet Corps (NCC) among other extra-curricular activities there.
- At that time, her school did not have a science stream but offered a course named “household” that groomed girls into good housewives. When Bedi was in class 9, she joined Cambridge College, a private institute that offered science and prepared her for the matriculation exam.
- Bedi, inspired by her father, started playing tennis at a very young age of nine.
- She used to visit the Service Club in Amritsar often, where she interacted with civil servants. That inspired her to take up a public service career and her first posting was in the Chanakyapuri subdivision of Delhi in 1975.
- She started her career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Chanakyapuri in Delhi.
- She won the President’s Gold Medal in 1979 and thereafter, moved to West Delhi where she tried to eradicate crimes against women.
- As a traffic police officer, Bedi inspected the traffic arrangements for the Asian Games in Delhi in 1982 and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Goa in 1983.
- As Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kiran Bedi launched a campaign against drug abuse, that later evolved into Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation.
- After being posted as the Inspector General in Delhi Jail in May 1993, she made several reforms in Tihar Jail, receiving worldwide acclaim.
- In 2003, Kiran Bedi became the first Indian and the first woman to be appointed as the head of the UN Police and Policy Advisor at the United Nations
- Bedi resigned in 2007 to focus on writing and social activism. From 2008 to 11, she also hosted a show Aap Ki Kachhari
- Bedi was one of the most prominent leaders of the India Anti-Corruption Movement in 2011. She joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in January 2015
- Kiran Bedi took oath as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry on 29 May 2016 and broke the convention by addressing the gathering at the path ceremony
- She met her future husband Brij Bedi on the tennis courts in Amritsar. Brij, who was nine years older than her, played university-level tennis at that time. They tied the knot on March 9, 1972, at the local Shivalaya temple.
- They have a daughter named Sukriti. The two have lived separately for most of their married life.