I will never stop speaking truth to power: 'Lady Singham' Sunita Yadav

The night of July 8 has been a tipping point for Sunita Yadav, the LRD police officer who is otherwise also now known as 'Lady Singham'. Almost unconcerned of the support she is garnering on social media, she claims, her entire life has changed but, perhaps, not for the better. 

A few days after the words 'Lady Singham Sunita Yadav' became a household name in Surat and in the rest of Gujarat, I arrived in the city to meet her in person - the same police officer who was bearing the brunt for stopping Prakash Kanani, son of Kumar Kanani (MoS health for Government of Gujarat) while he was roaming outside after curfew hours. 

While there is a larger than life image formed of Yadav, when I went to meet her at her apartment in Surat, my first glimpse of her was almost amusing - with a broomstick in her hand, sweeping the kitchen floor of her two-bedroom apartment where she lives with her parents and her two younger brothers. She came out to the living room and asked for a few minutes to get ready, before she went to her door, she picked up my shoes with her hands and kept them inside the shoe rack. 

Yadav's house was garnered with pictures of her time in NCC and then as a Lok Rakshak Dal officer and on her first day of duty, etc. There are several awards that were displayed at the corner table. She takes another table from the corner in front of us, wipes the dust off of it with her tee-shirt sleeve and places two cups of tea on it. We sat down to talk. 

When I asked her what really happened on the night of July 8, she said she was left alone by several officers who were supposed to be with her at the checkpoint. She says, she had not been trying to create any controversy and there is a deeper reason for making the video which now almost every person in the country has watched. 

She claimed that the entire system is to be blamed. She pointed out the politician - police nexus, and that the night of the incident was not the first time that someone had tried to intimidate her. "There is a huge nexus of police officers, politicians and other influential people here. It has happened to me before when I had stopped someone for flouting rules, and they had called my superiors who had then called me to let them off easy. When I questioned them, they said, you don't have evidence. Since then I have started making videos. I was not making that particular video because it was a ministers son. I didn't even know who was the minister and who was his son and who were his friends. Even if it was the President, I would have stopped him and questioned him," Yadav said. 

Interestingly, she had mentioned something shocking in a Facebook live she did on Monday where she claimed that if the person who was making that video had not come to her rescue, there might have been another Nirbhaya incident all over again. "You would have been marching with candles in your hands for me. I was intimidated, and there was no help what so ever from my seniors," Yadav said. 

But now, she claims she will be taking a step back from her duty. She will be studying and preparing for becoming an IPS officer. The reason, she expressed, was her frustration on not being able to do anything at all because her post is even below a constable. "I am not running away from this fight. I am not scared of anyone at all. I just want to put this issue to rest and carry on with my life. Justice will be done by God in this. I will return when I can be a part of the system to change it. As of now, there is no point for me to litigate in public. Having spent some time as a part of the system and in a position against the system, I know exactly what is wrong with it...and there is a lot that's wrong," she said while taking her medicines for migraines that she says she's been having since the incident. 

Yadav claimed that there are a lot of threats and pressure that she has been getting. Many are from the police officers themselves; some are also goons of political leaders who want to quieten this issue. "There has been a lot of negativity about me in the media as well. Some of the media personnel also misbehaved with me when I told them to maintain social distancing and wear masks. I don't mind the negative coverage. I am truthful, God is with me. I don't need anyone else at all," she says as she get up to leave for Amroli Police station where she asks me to accompany her. 

She tells me her personal life has also taken a toll. "My father has been getting threatening messages, my brothers are helping me out as much as they can. I am.under extreme mental pressure. My father tells me to stay at home and do nothing. But, what is the point of doing that? I have not been raised a coward. I understand that they are tensed, but I will do what I must," Yadav says with a sad smile. She absent-mindedly picks up an unopened package beside her and tells me, "my fiance had sent this a few days back. I haven't even had the time to open this and see what he's sent. He is in the Navy and he has been a real rock in all this." She stops and grins, "I jokingly also told him to rethink marrying me. I am like this only. I won't ever stop speaking truth to power. Whatever might be the cost. He told me, he wanted to marry someone like that only." 

Today was also significant for her since she was going to resign officially from her post. While she had made a lot of statements earlier, claiming that she has put in her papers, the police officials stated that they had not received them. In fact, for the past few days since the night of the incident, Yadav has been on sick leave. While we stood in Amroli police station, waiting for her car and security personnel who has been appointed to accompany her, she claimed she is waiting for her resignation to go through, so that she can finally move on from this issue. That, she would radically change whatever she could when she will be put in charge once she becomes an IPS officer.

"All of this works on hafta system. The police officers don't know how to speak to the public. When someone comes to a station, they are already very tensed and lost. But the way these people treat the public, it adds to their stress. Police should have at least that much of emotional intelligence and empathy to deal with the people who are coming to us for help. I would make sure that this happens at least in the area that I would be put in charge of," she says while studying the people who were standing inside the station for registering complaints.

When I asked her how she would do it, she says with a twinkle in her eye, "Without the public, we are nothing. I am a khakhee uniform before I am Sunita Yadav. Posts are irrelevant. The uniform should be respected. For me, it will always be that way," she said before she got up to give her resignation.

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