Engineers, law degree holders join police force

New Delhi, July 14: Since the age of 12 he has aspired for a career in the civil services. Now, Nishant Gupta, 31, an M.Tech degree holder, has realised his childhood dream after being inducted as an assistant commissioner of police (ACP).

Gupta and 10 other highly qualified people, including a woman, are ready to take up the challenges of a police officer's job after leaving their comfortable and lucrative careers in fields like engineering, law and business management. They are all in the 11th batch of the Delhi Andaman Nicobar Island Police Service (DANIPS).

The others who have chosen a police career have MA, MSc, MBA, LLM and B.Tech degrees.

Despite having a master's degree in biochemical engineering and having worked as a senior analyst in two companies for over four years, Gupta continued to prepare for the civil services and was selected for DANIPS in 2011.

"It was my childhood dream to be selected in the civil services. During 2000-2005, I was busy completing my dual B.Tech and M.Tech degree courses from Delhi's Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). After completing my degrees, I started preparaing for the civil services and was selected in my fourth attempt," Gupta told IANS.

"From 2007 to June 2012, I worked in two different companies as a senior analyst but could not forget my dream," said Gupta, adding that he will now deal with real problems of people under the system of law.

Like Gupta, his 10 other colleagues recently completed their one-year training at Delhi's Jharoda Kalan Police Training College.

All of them will now start their practical training in Delhi's different police stations before their postings are decided.

For 30-year-old Law degree holder Jasbir Singh, it was his career choice because no one from his family has ever been in the civil services.

He experienced the real problems faced by policemen during his one-year training.

Sharing his experiences during the India Gate protest on the Dec 16, 2012, gang-rape, Singh told IANS: "People think that a policeman's job is cushy, but it is not so. They work round the clock. Policemen during the India Gate protest had to take the tough decision of lobbing tear gas shells on the protesters and using batons because a huge number of protesters were trying to enter Rashtrapati Bhawan."

He said to maintain law and order policemen have sometimes to wield the baton. "We do not want to do this ever, but we are trained to tackle unprecedented situations. I know policing is not an easy job. But, it's my choice to serve people by solving their basic problems," said Jasbir Singh.

The only woman DANIPS officer of this batch has another reason to join the civil services.

The holder of an MA degree, Sweta Singh Chauhan's only target was to crack the civil services examination because her father and grandfather also served in the same field.

The smiling face of this Gwalior-based woman easily expressed her satisfaction as she described her one-year training experience.

"The police training, especially physical training, was really very hectic and tough. Our training starts at 5 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. But it was necessary because policemen have to work round the clock. Even they could not easily get holidays on Holi and Diwali," Chauhan told IANS.

IANS