Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Not having even a drop of water from morning till night during managing traffic, controlling crowds, dealing with criminals and conducting raids. That is what policewomen in the city have been doing year after year on Karwa Chauth. On the eve of Karwa Chauth, Free Press journal talked with some women police personnel.
Excerpts:
Had to join raid
Priyanka Sharma, a constable posted at Kotwali Police Station, has been fasting on Karwa Chauth for 14 years. She remembers how in 2021, on the day of the festival, she was asked to join a police party that was to raid a house. “My daughter was a little older than two years, I was fasting and yet I had to go,” she says, adding that women cops like her have to do both their duties, religious as well as official, simultaneously. “We are not able to make preparations like women in other fields and professions can,” she said.
Colleagues, family members do support
Rewa Sanjay Patel, a constable posted at Mahila Police Station, says Karwa Chauth fast is supposed to end with moonrise. In her case, she had to break it hours after the moon had risen because she was in the field, doing her duty. “In police, we cannot say no when ordered to perform a law and order duty. And it is entirely uncertain when the duty will end,” she says. Married in May last year, this will be her second Karwa Chauth. Her husband is also in the police force and is posted in an office. “We do manage. Our colleagues also support and so do our family members,” she says.
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Mobile screen for sieve
Vandana Gaur, an inspector posted at the State Crime Record Bureau, has been married for 10 years. Her husband is her batchmate and is currently posted at Mandsaur. “Last year, to break the fast, I did not see him through a sieve, I saw him on the mobile screen. And this year, too, it is the same story. He won’t be able to come and we will meet on a video call,” she says. She is posted at an office but before that she was on field assignment and sometimes had to delay the breaking of the fast.
Can’t compromise
Parvati Yadav, a head constable posted at DRP Lines, Nehru Nagar, says that faith in religion and love for her husband gives her the strength to fast amid her tough duty. She has been fasting on Karwa Chauth since 2002. The mother of a 15-year-old daughter, she says that it is indeed challenging but then, she can neither compromise with her duty as a cop nor her duty as a wife.