Meet Dr Darpan Ahluwalia, The Woman IPS Probationer Who Led The Dikshant Parade This Year

Dr. Darpan Ahluwalia, a woman IPS probationer borne on Punjab cadre, is the sixth woman in the history of the academy to command the parade. Last year, Ranjitha Sharma of Rajasthan cadre and Kiran Shruthi D.V. of Tamil Nadu cadre in 2019 led the Dikshant Parades. Twenty per cent of the IPS probationers of 73 Regular Recruit passing out from the sprawling Sardar Vallababhai Patel National Police Academy are women.

Dr Ahluwalia, the overall topper of the 73rd batch of the IPS, takes her inspiration from her grandfather Narinder Singh, who had served in the Punjab police and retired as district attorney and chief law instructor is her inspiration. 'It was through him that I got my first exposure to the police. Though he retired a long time ago, I heard a lot from him about how the police can impact society and I decided to become a police officer,' she said in an interview with New Indian Express. 'Moving from working as a doctor to becoming an IPS officer is not a change of path or career, but I would say it's an extension of what I have been doing in the past. With this new role, I will be more approachable to people, particularly women, as people look to the police as the first resort in any crisis or emergency,' she said.

When she completed her MBBS, she extended her services by organising breast cancer screening camps through the NGO Pink Link Campaign. Her short stint at a government tertiary health care centre before cracking the civil services also helped her a lot in realising her goal to become a police officer. She has also won the Martyr KS Vyas Trophy for Internal Security and Public Order and Fieldcraft and Tactics.