Kiran Bedi is a retired Indian Police Service officer, social activist,
former tennis player and politician who is the current Lieutenant Governor of
Puducherry. She is the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) in
1972.
Bedi was born on 9 June 1949 in Amritsar, in a well-to-do Punjabi business
family. She is the second child of Prakash Lal Peshawaria and Prem Lata (née
Janak Arora). She has three sisters: Shashi, Reeta and Anu. Her great-great
grandfather Lala Hargobind had migrated from Peshawar to Amritsar, where he set
up a business. Bedi's upbringing was not very religious, but she was brought up
in both Hindu and Sikh traditions (her grandmother was a Sikh). Prakash Lal helped
with the family's textile business, and also played tennis. Bedi's grandfather
Muni Lal controlled the family business, and gave an allowance to her father.
He cut this allowance when Bedi's elder sister Shashi was enrolled in the
Sacred Heart Convent School, Amritsar. Although the school was 16 km away from
their home, Shashi's parents believed it offered better education than other
schools. Muni Lal was opposed to his grandchild being educated in a Christian
school. However, Prakash Lal declared financial independence, and went on to
enroll all his daughters, including Kiran, in the same school. Bedi started her
formal studies in 1954, at the Sacred Heart Convent School in Amritsar. She
participated in National Cadet Corps (NCC), among other extra-curricular
activities. When she was in Class 9, Bedi joined Cambridge College, a private
institute that offered science education and prepared her for matriculation
exam.
By the time her former schoolmates at Sacred Heart cleared Class 9, she
cleared Class 10 (matriculation) exam. Bedi graduated in 1968, with a BA
(Honours) in English, from Government College for Women at Amritsar. The same
year, she won the NCC Cadet Officer Award. In 1970, she obtained a master's
degree in political science from Panjab University, Chandigarh. From 1970 to
1972, Bedi taught as a lecturer at Khalsa College for Women in Amritsar. She
taught courses related to political science. Later, during her career in the
Indian Police Service, she also earned a law degree at Delhi University in 1988
and a Ph.D. from IIT Delhi's Department of Social Sciences in 1993.
Inspired by her father, Bedi started playing tennis at the age of nine. As a
teenage tennis player, she cut her hair short as they interfered with her game.
In 1964, she played her first tournament outside Amritsar, participating in the
national junior lawn tennis championship at Delhi Gymkhana. She lost in early
rounds, but won the trophy two years later, in 1966. As the national champion,
she was eligible for entry to the Wimbledon junior championship, but was not
nominated by the Indian administration.
Bedi was also a part of Indian team that beat Sri Lanka to win the Lionel
Fonseka Memorial Trophy in Colombo. She continued playing tennis until the age
of thirty, when she started focusing on her Indian Police Service career. In
1972, she married fellow tennis player Brij Bedi; the two had met on Service
Club courts in Amritsar.
After joining IPS, Bedi served in Delhi, Goa, Chandigarh and Mizoram. She
started her career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in
Chanakyapuri area of Delhi, and won the President's Police Medal in 1979. Next,
she moved to West Delhi, where she brought a reduction in crimes against women.
Subsequently, as a traffic police officer, she oversaw traffic arrangements
for the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and the 1983 CHOGM meet in Goa. As DCP of
North Delhi, she launched a campaign against drug abuse, which evolved into the
Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation (renamed to Navjyoti India Foundation in
2007).
In May 1993, she was posted to the Delhi Prisons as Inspector General (IG).
She introduced several reforms at Tihar Jail, which gained worldwide acclaim
and won her the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994. In 2003, Bedi became the first
Indian woman to be appointed as a Police Advisor to Secretary-General of the
United Nations, in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations. She resigned in
2007, to focus on social activism and writing. She has written several books,
and runs the India Vision Foundation. During 2008–11, she also hosted a court
show Aap Ki Kachehri. She was one of the key leaders of the 2011 Indian
anti-corruption movement, and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January
2015. She unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Delhi Assembly election as the
party's Chief Ministerial candidate. On 22 May 2016, Bedi was appointed as the
Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
