CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s first woman IPS officer Letika Saran walked off into the sunset amid a flurry of handshakes, smiles and well-wishes at a ceremonial farewell parade hosted in her honour on Friday.
After a distinguished career spanning 36 years, the last two of which were particularly tumultuous, it was time for the 60-year-old officer to hang up her boots.
Director-General of Police K Ramanujam aptly captured the special niche that Saran carved for herself in the history of the Indian Police Service in TN.
“Today, there are 33 IPS women officers in the state. More heartening is the fact that out of the 12 IPS officers selected from TN this year, 50 per cent are women,” he said,
But this was not the case until 1976. “Prior to that year, there was not a single woman IPS officer from the state,” the police chief pointed out. This was in contrast to the situation in the Indian Administrative Service, which got its first woman officer in 1951, he said.
It was left to two women to break the glass ceiling and make their foray into the coveted Indian Police Service, in 1976: Letika Saran and G Thilagavathy.
Besides enjoying the rare distinction, Thilagavathy, who retired last year, made a mark in the literary world, winning the Sahitya Akademi award for her novel Kalmaram (Stone Tree).
However, it was Saran who touched the pinnacle of her career.
As Ramanujam pointed out, she had several firsts to her credit. As the first woman assistant superintendent, she tackled the naxal problem in Tirupattur effectively and proved her capability, the DGP said. After several stints in various agencies such as the Crime Branch-CID and CBI, she became the first woman police commissioner of a metropolitan city, Chennai, in 2006.
Three years later, she was promoted as DGP, the second female DGP of a state in India.On January 8, 2010, she became the first woman police chief of the state.
However, her elevation was soon mired in controversy, when her senior colleague, DGP R Nataraj, who was overlooked for the post, challenged her appointment.
Following a protracted legal battle, the Madras High Court upheld her appointment last year.