Voices from the Indian Feminist Movement
Meeran Borwankar
Meeran Chadha Borwankar is the epitome of Shakti, or feminine strength. She joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1981, in the state of Maharashtra. She was the first woman to do so. As the former Chief of the Mumbai Crime Branch and the Maharashtra Prisons Department, she has tackled the most hardened criminals of India. She was in charge of the hangings of high-profile terrorists Yakub Memon and Ajmal Kasab, who were responsible for the devastating 1993 and 2011 Mumbai bombings, respectively.
When she was promoted to Police Commissioner, she “did a little introspection on what I can contribute for my gender”. Among other gender-based crimes, she tackled and busted many child sex traffickers. Every 8 minutes in India, a girl child goes missing. Consequently, the country has some of the highest rates of sex trafficking in the world. “My officers and I were in Kamathipura, in Mumbai, a known area for prostitutes. While we were winding up our search of the brothel, we heard a tap from the floor. We realized that the girls were being hid under the floor, so we opened it and rescued them.” I ask her how the victims are lured in the first place, and if anyone approaches pimps willingly. "I have not come across a single case of a girl voluntarily going. But I’ll tell you what happens is I tell you two, three concrete examples. One, two girls were raped. And some of the rapists were also government servants. So one girl had a stepmother. She was unhappy. Second girl thought that this going to Mumbai is a big thing in my life. So once they got out and they were raped. They thought they have no other option but to get into prostitution.
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“Once you get to a senior level in the Police Force, gender is immaterial”, states Chief Borwankar. “But I was hosting a gender sensitization course for my officers. And to my utter distress, midway through the conference, one of my senior officers got up and said, “Ma’am, why are you making an issue out of it? If my daughter comes late at home, and I slap her, what's wrong, if her husband also slaps her once in a while? So it's a fact that India is a patriarchy, where men-
-whether in uniform or out of uniform--feel women are their property. So I thought sensitization of my officers is very essential.” Considering these patriarchal attitudes of police officers, I ask her what it's like to manage
India is a patriarchy, where men-- whether in uniform or out of uniform--feel women are their property.
her subordinates. "You see, women naturally have a lot of management experience. We manage our homes, our children, our household budgets, so those skills have already been developed. But like I said, gender becomes irrelevant at a senior level in the police. My officers used to call me 'sir'. But I have challenged this male domination of leadership and the messages which one constantly gets in India, that women can be good subordinates but not good leaders." I request her her to elaborate on women’s safety in different parts of India. “Safety, I would say in rural India is not that much of a challenge. Rural India still safe, it's only metros and urban cities which have become unsafe. I would say there is some rise in gender crime, but there is also increasing reporting of crime.”
Now that she has retired, Chief Borwankar runs a mentorship program for rural and small-town girls. “[In my seminars] I’ll have around 100 girls, but not a single question will be asked by a girl. So I try my level best to make them feel confident, because I am a small town person, so I can relate to them. I tell lots of personal stories, how
The hit Bollywood movie Mardaani, or Manhood, was based off of Chief Borwankar's life.
my English was so bad, how I also had a complex. I used to cycle five kilometers one way to reach my school. I'm from an ordinary government school. We did not have any furniture, so we used to sit on the floor and study. [I tell them] if I can reach this position, it's definitely achievable for them.” Her book, Leaves of Life, aims to communicate life lessons through her own personal experiences. As a highly qualified woman who has seen the world, she wants to teach young women all the lessons that she learned throughout her life. As a young woman, her life lessons are invaluable to me.