DCP Shahdara District- Ms. Nupur Prasad
Ms. Nupur Prasad gives all the credit for her career to her family. She says, “My father is in Defense Accounts department and my two brothers are in the engineering and management jobs. My family was very open and it was a situation that whatever I wanted to do in my career, I had the freedom to choose that and go for it. There was no restriction from the family side and it was very supportive. So, whatever I wanted to study and wherever I wanted to study, I had the liberty to do that. I completed my graduation in History from Patna University and then I joined Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. There I did masters and M.Phil. in International Relations.
Then I was selected in the Indian Police Service. I decided to join the police and my family supported that decision too, as they had done before as well. After getting training in Mussoorie and Hyderabad, I was posted in Howrah in West Bengal as Assistant Commissioner of Police. It was a challenging post as Howrah was a crime-centric area. Seniors were very supportive and they used to guide me. They would support my decisions in law-enforcement. That was very encouraging posting. Then I was posted as Addl. DCP in South 24 Pargana.
Then I got posting in Arunachal Pradesh, after change of my cadre. I was Superintendent of Police there for 18 months each in two districts i.e. Bondila and Tawang. It was successful tenure there. At Bondila, policing was very different. We had to engage local people there as their consent was important in taking the decisions regarding them. At Bondila, there was a case of kidnapping of an engineer. We solved that case and rescued the victim. It also happened with the help of local people there. I think it was a big achievement of that time there. We cleared that ganja cultivation also with the help of locals. Before that the other government agency was not allowed to do because of local resistance but somehow we got support of the locals after convincing them and were able to remove ganja cultivation there.
After coming in Delhi, I served as additional DCP south-west and south district, before assuming charge as DCP Shahdara. In south-west Delhi, there were urban areas like Dwarka and rural belt such as Najafgarh and Chhawla. There were gang-wars. That was a challenging post. While in south district, there was almost everything was high-profile. A sensitive issue relating with African nationals and locals was handled professionally by us. There was no major case happened there, which remained unsolved.
However the biggest challenge for me is as DCP Shahdara. This was not a police district earlier, so the challenge was not only run the district but also to establish it. I did two things simultaneously i.e. establishing the district and running it. Our policemen were ready to work extra and worked extra. I got big support from police personnel, who were posted there.”
Whether Shahdara is a crime-prone district or not? She admitted that it is. She says that “Six police stations have their borders with Uttar Pradesh. In some areas, there is no clear demarcation also. That makes policing tough. Also, criminals take advantage of border areas as they cross-over to other state after committing the crime. This is the biggest challenge we are dealing with. Petty crimes, apart from snatching and robbery, are more. We take timely action on petty crimes also. As of now, we are focusing on murder of five people, including four women, of a family. That case is our priority. We are working day and night to solve that case.” We hope she would solve this case as well, as she did many times in the previous years.
