From SI in Delhi Police to judge, Nirmala Singh’s flight of inspiration

New Delhi, March 7

As a Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police, Nirmala Singh investigated at least 100 cases of crime against women. But now she is all set to ensure justice to several women as a judge.

Lucky to have a supportive family

Joining the force is not easy for girls like me, specially in a regressive society, where I come from. I am lucky to have a progressive and supportive family that provided me with all the motivation to complete my education, and to have such a choice of career. — Nirmala Singh, Sub-Inspector

Singh (34) will soon become a judge as she has aced her Delhi Judiciary Services Examination (DJS) of 2022. Moreover, she has all the more reasons to celebrate International Women’s Day on Friday.

Hailing from a small village in Haryana’s Palwal district, Singh has become an inspiration for the students preparing for competitive exams. When she started studying for the competitions, she never thought of becoming a judge, she said.

“In my family and among relatives, no one is either in the judiciary or in Delhi Police. I come from family of faujis, and like them, I also wanted to serve the society by doing something,” she said, adding, “that was the reason I opted to join the force.”

In 2014, after completing her graduation from Delhi University, she qualified for the Delhi Police’s Sub-Inspector examination. That made her the first female to qualify such examination in her village.

“Joining the force is not easy for girls like me, specially in a regressive society, where I come from. I am lucky to have a progressive and supportive family that provided me with all the motivation and right direction to complete my education, and to have such a choice of career,” Singh said.

She has two brothers — one is serving in the Army and the other works as a human resource manager in a five-star hotel. Her mother is a homemaker.

“I studied in a Hindi-medium school. For further studies, I had to travel 20 km every day to reach my school in Haryana. Therefore, in Class 8, I shifted to my father’s place of posting in Jodhpur. I passed my Class 11 and 12 exams from Sikkim as my father was posted there,” she said.

Singh pursued BCom from DU’s Jesus and Mary College.

“After completion of my basic training in 2015, I was posted at Govindpuri police station in South East Delhi. My work profile there included investigation into cases of crime against women and children,” she said, adding that, “As part of my duties, regular visits to courts became an integral facet of my routine. These visits not only offered a firsthand glimpse into intricacies of legal proceedings but also afforded me a profound insight into the working of the judicial system.

“As an enforcement officer, I felt the need for having better understanding of law while efficiently discharging my duties. Thereafter, with due permission from the department, I took admission in LLB at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi in 2016. It was on another end of Delhi from the place of posting then,” Singh said.

Her real struggle started with admission in law as she had to manage classes without compromising with the duties assigned to her.

“Unlike any other job, my work place was spread from police stations to place of occurrences to the court rooms with erratic schedule. Above these, I had to manage to secure at least 75 per cent attendance for LLB. For this, I used to plan entire day well in advance, so that I could make best use of every single minute,” she said.

While pursuing law, she developed inclination towards judicial examination. Finally, she secured first division marks in LLB.

“After completing my LLB in 2019, the next step was to prepare for the judicial competitive examinations. Though my ultimate target was Delhi Judicial Examination, to keep my preparation consistent and in order to get real-time experience of examination, I started appearing for other states’ examinations as well,” Singh said. She took admission for Masters of Law in 2020 from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.

In between, she got transferred to the Sagarpur police station followed by Police Training School in Dwarka, where she would lecture on law to other Delhi Police trainees. Singh is presently posted in the legal division of Delhi Police at the headquarters.