Colleagues never stood by me: IPS officer Roopa D Moudgil

BENGALURU: IPS officer Roopa D Moudgil on Sunday lamented how she was left to fend for herself when she raised the issue of irregularities in Bengaluru Central Prison in 2017.
“My colleagues remained mute spectators. They never supported me openly when I spoke about irregularities in the prison and waited to know what was in store for me,” Roopa said at the 5th Women Leadership Summit 2019 at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB).

“One feels isolated after taking such steps. Once you speak against the system, not many people will like it because they have vested interests,” she said in reply to a query raised by a member of the audience, who wanted to know why whistleblower officers are cornered.

Roopa also narrated her experience as a woman officer in the police department. “Most of the time it was my immediate officers who were reluctant to take my orders seriously when I joined the service, because they thought what practical knowledge I would have being a woman. But one thing I made sure is that I always do the right thing and follow rules,” she said.

Roopa said former IPS officer and Puducherry governor Kiran Bedi was her inspiration to be a fearless officer.

Bedi’s water rich model

Kiran Bedi, who addressed the summit just before Roopa, spoke about the Water Rich Puducherry model and how she went on to make the Union territory flood resistant and water rich. Rejuvenation of 25 water channels had impacted 164 villages in one year, she said.

Answering a question from Roopa on what keeps her energised at this age, Bedi said: “Spend some time with yourself and treat your mind, body and soul well.”

Dr Tessy Thomas, director general of aeronautical systems, DRDO; Vaishnavi Reddy from Brandstory; Anjana Vivek from Venture Bean Consulting and Anuradha Agarwal, former CMO Marico, also spoke.