Fighting cyber crime

Tech-savvy additional DCP of Central Crime Station, Cyberabad, G. Janaki Sharmila, cracks down on cyber criminals and helps women in peril.

The absolute highlight of G. Janaki Sharmila’s career was when, as Kovvur Deputy Superintendent of Police, she went to Mumbai and rescued 21 girls, including six minors, from a redlight area along with CID officials.

After coming to Hyderabad as additional DCP of Cyberabad Central Crime Station, Sharmila is today rescuing girls and women targeted by cyber criminals. She has also cracked down on many cases of economic offences and other cyber crimes.

An MBA graduate from Sri Venkateswara University, Sharmila was an employee in the Andhra Pradesh Women’s Co-operative Finance Corporations before her fateful entry into the police department. A tragic car accident in 2004 near Nagarjunasagar had claimed her 10-month-old daughter and left her and her family injured. That was when she decided to serve the people as a cop.

“I always had great respect for the police department. In a way, the accident made me realise that my purpose was to serve people,” she says.

Sharmila then cracked the APPSC group exams in 2007. She served in Kovvur as DSP and Rajahmundry as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) before being transferred as the first additional DCP of CCS in Cyberabad. When she took charge as OSD in Rajahmundry, notorious rowdy gangs were at war. With continuous efforts, Sharmila and her team rounded up the history-sheeters and brought peace to the area.

The tech-savvy cop with a B.Tech degree, Janaki also supervises major cases in which women are victims. She thinks that any challenges that are faced by women police officers can be dealt with if they are confident. “My family and higher officials always have given me that confidence,” she says.

Right in middle of all the action

From factionists, kidnappers and rioters, East Zone DCP R. Jayalaksmi has seen it all.

R. Jayalakshmi came in as Deputy Commissioner of Police of East Zone, Hyderabad, which was the hotbed of Telangana agitation last year. And even before she could adjust to the new office, she was thrown into the thick of the tragic Dilsukhnagar twin blasts too.

She was also constantly rushing to Osmania University and EFLU where T-agitations and student suicides were causing chaos. Despite agitators threatening to rock the two famous campuses, she and her team stood firm and soon took the situation under control.

A science graduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Jayalakshmi, a native of Selam, was determined to crack the Civil Services exam without a “push” from her family. “I realised that IPS and IAS were much-sought-after government services and it was entirely my decision to write the Civil Services exam and then to go for the police service,” she says.

The IPS officer of the 2006 batch, who has been assistant Superintendent of Police in Kadapa, Siddipet and Ongole, thinks that the most conspicuous matter for a woman police officer is the sense of protection she enjoys. “I do feel a sense of security in this service, and a sense of responsibility to handle the challenges. These facts motivate me in the career,” she points out.

Before being transferred as DCP in the city in November 2012, she was Superintendent of Police in Krishna district. During her tenure, she had to deal with factionists in Kadapa, and when she was transferred to Siddipet in 2009, the area was chaotic with the ongoing Telangana agitation.

Jayalaksmi thus had the pulse of Telangana, Rayalaseema and Andhra before she took charge in the city.

When she was SP of Krishna district, she made headlines for her stunning performance of hunting down an abductor who had kidnapped a woman medico, and rescuing the victim within 24 hours.

As the only woman Zonal DCP in Hyderabad, Jayalakshmi believes that a determined woman can fulfil her professional and personal duties with ease. But she agrees that a woman cop has to face bigger challenges.

“Working women, especial women police officials, may face tougher challenges sometimes than their male counterparts,”  Jayalakshmi confesses, adding that she handles such challenges with the support extended by her higher officials and colleagues.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Offbeat / by DC / July 01st, 2013