Book Review [126] : The British, the Bandits and the Bordermen

I was not into the biographies of Police Officers and then i found this gem. 'The British, the Bandits and the Bordermen' is a biography of one of the finest police officer produced by this country - Khusro Faramurz Rustamji. He remains till date the only Indian Police Officer to have received the Padma Vibhushan - the second highest civilian award conferred by Indian government. 

Rustamji was born in a well to do Parsee family in 1916. He joined Indian Police at the young age of 23 and by 26 he became the Superintendent of Police. He played a key role in crushing the 1942 Quit India movement in central Provinces though with a moderate use of force. After Independence he played his part in Operation Polo of 1948. He enjoyed great proximity of Nehru when he was his Chief Security Officer (1952-1958). He was appointed the Inspector General of Police of Madhya Pradesh in 1958 when he was just 42 years old. 

When i was a kid i heard lot of legends (most of the times good) of dacoits of Chambal region. People used to and still remember the adventures of dacoits like Man Singh, Lakhan, Roopa etc. Under the leadership of Rustamji almost all the dacoits of Madhya Pradesh were flushed. Rupa was killed in 1959, Lakhan Singh in 1960 and Gabbar Singh in 1959.

He was asked to raise Border Security Force and was appointed its first Director General in 1965. It played a stellar role in Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. For this he was awarded Padma Bhushan. After his retirement he took the case of under trials of Bihar and this led to the famous judicial overreach in the form of Public Interest Litigation (in 1979). The then CJI P. N. Bhagwati ordered the release of about 40,000 under-trials all over India. He was also the member of National Police Commission set up in 1978 though its recommendations are still in cold storage.

He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1991. The great soul departed in 2003. 

India is blessed with so many great communities and Parsees are second to none in the process of nation building. 

Highly Recommended (10/10)