Shabana Shaikh, who joined the Maharashtra police in 1992, has now become the first Muslim woman in-charge officer in the history of Dongri police station. Her success is inspirational to women in uniform as it breaks many stereotypes.
She was also the first Muslim woman from her district to become a police officer. Shaikh has been serving as an inspector in the special branch (SB-I) in the Mumbai police. "I was born into a large joint family in Akole taluka of Ahmadnagar district. We were seven sisters and two brothers. Educating girls was almost a taboo in my village. However, although my father was little educated, he made it a point to send all of us to school," she told Hindustan Times.
Shaikh moved to Pune to complete her Masters and said that she always wanted to do something different. "Police service became a natural choice,” she claimed. Adding that she failed to qualify for the direct Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examination for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police. However, she cracked the sub-inspector exam in her first attempt and completed her MA during training. She wants her two daughters to join the IPS as well.
In 2018, Mumbai Police achieved a pathbreaking feat when became the first city in the country to have as many as eight women officers as police station in-charge. These officers also appointed as senior inspectors which is the highest post at police station level in the commissionerate. Taking to Twitter, Mumbai Police had then written, "Eight women police station in-charges a first in any city in the country, protecting the good and destroying the evil, with a smile each day."
Mumbai's Matunga Central Railway station became the first all-women station in India.
Feature Image Credit: @PotholeWarriors/Twitter
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