Sunday, 24 April 2022 | Shantanu Mukharji
Not many top cops are known to be writers of repute or comfortable with pen either in recording their memoirs or chronicles of their varied experiences. This said, there were English Imperial Police (IP) officials during the British rule who recorded diaries and their accounts of the field experience which still remain a huge source of information whether on day to day policing, tackling law and order or measures to control crime. Other than professional recollections, police officers of yesteryears also wrote extensively on flora and fauna during their assignments which remain useful accounts even today. There have been many IPS officers too who have written readable memoirs of their police innings and those have inspired some modern day dynamic IPS officers to use their pen and insight through books.
A very brilliant account of such collections has recently been churned out by a gusto senior police officer, Ashok Kumar currently the Director General of Police, Uttarakhand (co-authored with Lokesh Ohri). The book, titled “Human in Khaki” is not only aptly captioned but is also full of quality content meriting a “must read” not only for the police fraternity but also for avid book readers as it caters to a variety of topics which are bound to evince interest amongst the readers. It is full of anecdotes penned in simple, lucid English prompting the reader to finish it in one go.
Not to rob the curiosity of the reader about the contents of the book, it is yet imperative to share some stray anecdotes contained in the book. For example, Shahjahanpur district is dealt very interestingly by the author giving out some very exciting happenings of the district when the author was the superintendent of police in this district. The facts mentioned therein are surely a lesson for the young IPS officers and more crucially it gives the history of the district of Shahjahanpur, its geography and locale making it more enlightening. Similar accounts are very well recorded in the districts of Mathura and other places where the author led the police force and the diverse challenges he employed to address the problems. In every segment of his account, the author has reminisced in such a way that they automatically become gripping making it to be read in one breath.
Very crucially the chapter titled “The inhuman tragedy of terror” dealt by the author makes the book most interesting in view of the reviewer. It reveals the entire gamut of the anti-terror operations led by the author in his capacity as the police chief in UP’s turbulent Terai area near Nainital in the aftermath of the Khalistani uprising. While narrating his graphic recollections, the author recalls his visit to the Wagah check post on the Pakistan border as an IPS trainee from the National Police Academy, Hyderabad. His visit to the Golden Temple noticing the bullet marks on the holy temple site must have reinforced the resolve in the young police officer which helped him later in pursuing a dreaded terrorist in June 1993 as part of the anti-terror campaign unleashed effectively against Khalistani terrorists. The reader himself/herself would find out further details of this chapter by reading the book. Reviewers may not like to divulge all the details to spoil the rhythm.
The author, though an alumnus of IIT Delhi, becomes slightly philosophical while recounting some of his actions. The reader will find this aspect in the Epilogue: Police – myth and reality in good measure. This said, with an IIT background, it would appear that the author’s approach in policing in UP and later in Uttarakhand, has been very scientific.
“Human in Khaki”, to my mind is strongly recommended not as a recommendation from a fellow cop but is suggested from an as independent person and from a committed reader. This book calls for humane facet, a much-needed aspect for an over maligned Indian policeman.
Ashok Kumar and Lokesh Ohri have done a commendable job in producing this book deserving to find a place in the minds of the people as well as in one’s book shelf.
(The reviewer is a retired IPS officer, an avid reader and an occasional reviewer of books of all types)
