‘An Unlikely Police Chief’: Recounting an eventful innings

MP Nathanael

IN his autobiography, Bhushan Lal Vohra explains the reasons for choosing the title, ‘An Unlikely Police Chief’, towards the end. First, he never dreamt of donning the khaki, and second, he ultimately became the chief.

The subtitle ‘From and to Jaisalmer House’, too, has an interesting story behind it. While awaiting the results of the graduation examination, he cleared the clerks’ grade examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. He was appointed Lower Division Clerk in the Rehabilitation Ministry located at Jaisalmer House in New Delhi. Having stepped into Jaisalmer House for his first appointment in 1964, by a stroke of fate, he retired from the same building in 2004, albeit as the Chief of Civil Defence in the rank of Director General.

His family migrated from Panja Sahib in the aftermath of Partition to Amritsar and then to other cities till finally settling down in Delhi, initially in Malka Ganj and then Bharat Nagar, a refugee colony near Ashok Vihar.

On his selection as UDC, Vohra joined the Mines and Minerals Trading Corporation where an officer from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service suggested that he appear for the civil services examination. It served as a booster though he did not seriously prepare for it until he qualified for the post of Assistant in the Railways and joined the Railway Board. When he did appear for the civil services examination, he qualified in his first attempt.

On completion of his Indian Police Service training, he joined Delhi Police, having been allotted the Union Territory cadre. Later, when some of the UTs were granted statehood, he was shifted to the Manipur/Tripura cadre. The allotment of cadre, he writes, led to his revising his opinion about the integrity of bureaucrats as he felt that he was not given a fair deal. “Since then, the decline has been rapid not only at the Centre but also in the states. Today, the police and other bureaucrats are at the mercy of politicians and they mostly join hands with them to serve themselves at the cost of their duty and conscience.”

He served in the BSF, CRPF, CISF and NSG, introducing several measures to improve the living conditions of personnel and welfare of their families.

Interspersed with humourous anecdotes, the book provides an insight into the police working and its highly demanding, onerous and challenging tasks.

His contribution to the CAPFs has been immense, what with setting up of the CRPF Public School in New Delhi, having pre-fabricated accommodation huts, initiating a case for setting up of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and introduction of Commendation Discs for the personnel of CAPFs.

Written in a lucid style, the book is a must-read for police and CAPF officers to draw lessons from.