A Physics honours from St Stephens College, in Delhi, an MBA degree from the Delhi School of Economics, a stint in the department of economic affairs to the Senior Superintendent of Police in Lucknow. Life for Manzil Saini, a 2005 batch IPS officer, has surely taken a 360 degree turn in the past 11 years. Her petite frame neither fits into the rather rough uniform she wears nor does her soft demeanour sits comfortably on her tough job.
As she answers innumerable phone calls, deals with subordinates, issues instructions for a festival and meets visitors, she also talks about her life and her job with ease — the same ease with which she multi-tasks in life. Talking about her early life, Manzil recalls, “I was born into a family where most of the people were in the forces. My father was in Delhi Police, my uncle was in the Army and my brother is also in the Army. It was natural for me to be inclined towards the forces. Though I was more inclined towards academics, I decided to take the UPSC examination and cleared it in first attempt and ended up as an IPS officer.”
Manzil was already married with a son and daughter when she cleared her examination. “My daughter Kaira was just three months old when the results came out and she was just six months old when I left her in my in-laws’ care to go for the training. It was mentally very taxing to leave the baby during the training but, my husband, who has a textile business in Noida and my in-laws were very supportive and it is because of them that I could continue in the service,” she says.
Manzil candidly admits that she was apprehensive when she got posted to the UP Police. “I had seen the Delhi Police and had found them to be rather professional and their communication system was also good. Naturally, I was apprehensive when I came to UP because the force seemed to have behavioural problems. Slowly, I adjusted to the new surroundings,” says the cop.
As a woman officer, Manzil managed to break the glass ceiling in 2008 when she cracked the kidney racket in western UP. Talking about the case that made her famous, she says, “It was in 2008 and I was posted as ASP in Moradabad. One day, two men were fighting amongst themselves over some money at the railway station and the cops brought them to the police station. I happened to be there and one of them accused the other, apparently a tout, of stealing his kidney and now refusing to pay him money.
I had a gut feeling that there was something seriously wrong about the whole thing and we got the tout to reveal more information. He gave us names of other touts and we sent the cops as decoys — we called them ‘Pappus’ — to other touts and hospitals and finally we discovered that the kidney racket extended right up to Gurgaon. Poor people were being admitted to hospitals under one pretext or the other and their kidneys were being taken out. Those who protested were being given money. The case was worked out and several people in the chain were arrested. This one case made everyone take me seriously.”
However, cases that have given her immense happiness are the ones in which she has recovered kidnapped children — probably, the mother in her surfaces at such times. “There was this child who got kidnapped in Ferozabad and when we recovered the boy and took him to his mother, she just could not stop sobbing. The scene was so emotional that I could not control my tears either. Recovering a kidnapped child gives me an immense happiness because it amounts to almost saving the entire family from trauma,” she says softly.
Manzil, in her career span, had been given tough postings in volatile districts like Muzaffarnagar and Etawah but she says that working in the right direction and ensuring transparency has always earned her public support. Manzil also feels strongly about crime against women and the growing trend of brutalisation after rape. “The trend of brutalisation came to light after the Jyoti Singh (Nirbhaya) case in Delhi. It reflects a mental perversion and I feel that the accused persons must be given psychiatric treatment apart from their conviction. They need to be put into mental asylums,” she says softly but firmly.
As she does her duty 24x7, she does suffer from occasional pangs of guilt about being away from her children and husband. “In the initial years, I kept the kids with me but frequent transfers were a problem so now they stay with their father in Noida and my in-laws take care of them. My son Romil is 14 and my daughter Kaira is 11 and now they understand that I have a job to do. When I go to them during leave, I make sure all my time is only for them,” she says and her eyes glisten as she talks of her family. And finally, about her rather unusual name ‘Manzil’ — “My father wanted a daughter and when I was born, he named me ‘Manzil’— that is how I got this name,” she says.
