As a member of the Indian Police Service, Kirpal Singh Dhillon served
as director general of police in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, and as
joint director, Central Bureau of Investigation, among other challenging
assignments. After retirement, he served a tenure as vice chancellor of
Bhopal University and has also been a hockey administrator and a human
rights advocate. He is the author of Defenders of the Establishment, Police and
Politics in India and Identity and Survival: Sikh Militancy in India 1978-1993,
and has written essays on the Indian Constitution, human rights, minority
issues and the Bhopal gas disaster. He is a fellow of the Indian Institute of
Advanced Study, Shimla.
‰Û÷An exceptionally well-written book‰۪ Ian Talbot
In over three decades as a police officer, Kirpal Dhillon handled some of the most challenging assignments in independent India, from anti-dacoity operations in Madhya Pradesh to revamping a demoralized force as police chief of Punjab in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star. These memoirs describe his experiences in fascinating detail, and present vivid portraits of a range of people, including sadhus and swindlers, maharajas and brigands, scheming politicians and back-stabbing colleagues.
There are evocative descriptions of his village in Punjab, of Partition, and of the leaders he worked with, such as Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai. He writes with insight and expertise about terrorism, law-and-order problems, the training of administrators and policemen, and what can be done to ensure that they function with greater autonomy, accountability and humanity.
