Satwant is BSF’s first woman officer; Himachal IPS opens doors to gender sensitivity

She is daughter of retired IAS officer H S Atwal and hails from Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh . Satwant had done her education  in Shimla before being selected to the  IPS .

State’s Chief secretary P Mitra today received orders from the union ministry of Home Affairs informing about approval of her deputation in the BSF.Initially,she will be posted in the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) till her batch gets empaneled by the Government of India in June 2015.

Her husband Abhishek Trivedi , also an IGP Rank officer in Himachal Pradesh, has already been selected for central deputation in the Special Protection Group (SGP) at New Delhi.

“It’s quite heartening to note that I will be the first woman IPS officer in the para-military force ,which is rated as world’s largest force guarding India’s land border .My experience of working with seniors and other male-counterparts in the state and during my deputations in the centre has been very satisfying .I d’nt think will face any problem when I enter upon a new area of working in the BSF ” she told the Indian Express here.

She was picked up for the BSF posting by the centre on the basis of her outstanding  career record and previous postings .

Known for her low-profile yet innovative style of working in the police ,Trivedi earlier  had served Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy,Hyderabad from 2004 to 2009 and also in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at New Delhi before her return to the state in January 2012 .
Earlier ,beside her posting in the state’s CID and Crime branch –where she effectively handled cases of crime against women ,and cyber security ,Trivedi  had also served Una district,bordering Punjab, as Superintendent of Police.

During her current stint ,she had been instrumental solving lot of cases of cyber crime and crime against women .She headed the special cell at Police Headquarters to  supervise complaints of crime against women and lookingafter issues of gender sensitivity in the police.
Himachal Pradesh has already set-up two women police stations recently has a special police battalion. Shimla’s traffic mobility is handled by women police personnel ,apart from her deployments on law and order duties.

“Women are carving out their role slowly in the uniformed forces and standing out on merit to get larger responsibilities ,which they also have discharged well.Himachal Pradesh ,in that manner ,is much ahead of many states .Now, we  have  many young officers in the IPS ranks.There are few girls also in the Himachal Police Service. I hope more and more girls will be seen in the uniform “ she says.

It’s only sometime back ,the BSF had decided to empower women in ‘khaki’ and started recruitments and commissioning of the women officers in the rank of Assistant Commandants (Acs) .Satwant Atwal taking the charge next week ,is expected be give the BSF a new gender face.