Delhi Police has not had a woman as CP and apparently no woman SHO either

Appointment of Balaji Srivastava as Delhi Police Commissioner immediately after the retirement of SN Shrivastava has sent a wave of jubilation among the Kayasthas who have recently come out with a Kayastha Directory brought out by Udai Sahay, another former IPS officer.

Highly opinionated and normally divided on every issue because they are the official 'intellectual types', many Kayarthas in the capital preened, "Kuch to baat hai jo hasti mitati nahi Humari". Till recently the Acting Director, CBI and now the Special Director in the agency, they recalled, too happened to be from the community.

Among the 22 Police Commissioners in Delhi since July 1978 when the Commissioner system replaced the IG system, at least four have been from the community. But are Kayasthas anyway better qualified to be the CP in Delhi ? Besides the four, Delhi has had Neeraj Kumar, Nikhil Kumar and Amod Kanth, who retired as Additional Commissioner. That makes it a neat 25 per cent hit for Kayasthas.

But for Delhi Police watchers, the Kayastha vs the Rest is a trivial issue triggered by a Srivastava following a Srivastava (superseding a lot of seniors) to this high profile post.

The longest tenure of a CP in Delhi Police has been that of Dr.K.K. Paul, who was a highly qualified IPS and who later worked as Governor in a few states. What is more pertinent is that no woman has ever been appointed CP in Delhi. Kiran Bedi was the last woman officer who was almost there but resigned when she was superseded.

She made it a public issue saying that she was not appointed as she was a woman but insiders had then claimed that she was an 'unguided missile'. Her foray into politics and her tenure as Lieutenant Governor in Puducherry seemed to be a vindication for this school.

Indeed, Delhi Women's Commission recently filed a case in the High Court protesting that there was not a single woman as Station House Officer in Delhi. This deserves attention in the wake of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013 passed after the Nirbhaya tragedy, which mandated that if a police officer fails to register complaints of sexual assault, the SHO could be sent to jail.

When I once asked Maneka Gandhi, the then Minister for Women and Child Development, at a press conference how many police officers had been sent to jail for not registering FIRs, she replied, "We are trying to increase the number of women police in police stations."

But women officers in the police have received a raw deal as most of the women police officers attending a conference soon thereafter had complained that even in State Headquarters they did not have the luxury of even a separate toilet for women.

As far as Delhi Police is concerned there is no dearth of talent. Three women DCPs Vijayanta Arya, Monika Bhardwaj (the first Crime Branch Head) and Nupur Prasad have left their mark in tackling crime in Delhi.

But It seems Delhi Police will have to wait far longer to get a woman as Head.