Rashida Bakait
BENGALURU—It was a dream come true for 27-year-old Razia Sultana Ansari, the youngest of seven siblings from a family in the village Hathua in Gopalganj district of Bihar. She always wanted to become a police officer. This dream motivated her to appear for the Bihar Public Service Commission exams.
Her efforts helped her materialize her dream and, she was one of the 40 candidates to have been selected as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Bihar police. With this achievement, she is now the first Muslim woman to become a DSP in the Bihar police. Razia, who holds a B.Tech (Electrical Engineering) degree, was posted as an Electrical Engineer with the Bihar government before her selection in the state police force.
She completed her schooling from Bokaro in Jharkhand as her father, Mohammed Aslam Ansari, was posted as a stenographer at the Bokaro steel plant. He passed away in 2016. Her mother still lives in Bokaro. While sisters of Sultana are married, her elder brother works at a private company in Jhansi of Uttar Pradesh after doing an MBA. After completing her schooling in Bokaro, Razia went to Jodhpur from where she finished her B.Tech in electrical engineering.
“I am very excited to serve as a police officer,” Sultana told a news portal. “Often, women do not get justice and shy away from reporting to the police when there is an incident of crime against them. I will ensure that women report the crime against them,” she told the digital news portal. She expressed her concern about the lack of education, especially among Muslim girls, and urged parents to support their daughters’ dreams.
She supports the girls choosing to wear hijab (burqa) and asserts that the hijab does not deter those determined to gain knowledge. One can wear a hijab and still go to school or college. “Wearing a burqa or hijab is not a restriction. If we think that we can do any work, then Allah gives us the power to overcome all kinds of hurdles,’’ she pointed out.
Talking to a newspaper, the newly-appointed police officer, who recently recovered from Covid-19, appealed to her community to dispel rumours and misapprehensions about vaccination and go for jabs to save lives.
