Published on June 21, 2021
AHMEDABAD: On June 1, Anil Pratham, ADGP (women’s cell) of Gujarat Police’s CID (crime & railways), was promoted to the rank of DGP along with his 1989 batch mate Ajay Tomar, the Surat police commissioner.
With that promotion, Pratham set a record of sorts — during his career spanning 31 years, he has worked at CID (crime & railways) for 12 years, about 40% of his service as an IPS officer! Pratham still has two years before retirement as one of the top cops.
Talking to TOI, Pratham said it’s by chance that he had served as one of the two superintendents of police of CID (C&R) when the setup was not very extensive, at the beginning of his career.
Later, he served as DIGP, IGP, ADGP, and now DGP, in various capacities at CID (crime). He headed the economic offences wing (EOW) of the department for a short period before assuming charge of the women and children’s cell at CID. Pratham was also the principal of the police training college at Junagadh and had a stint with the CISF on deputation.
Pratham said that his is probably the longest stint of a police officer in the same department. “In my memory, the other longest stint was that of (SS) Khandwawala sir who was posted with police training units for eight years,” said Pratham. Khandwawala is a former DGP of Gujarat who was recently appointed as the head of the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit.
A native of Delhi, Pratham holds MCom and LLM degrees. Before joining the civil service, he worked with public sector banks and insurance firms. Associated actively with Buddhist organizations, he is also the national commissioner of Hindustan Scouts & Guides.
Pratham said that his postings are a state government decision. “I see it as a continuation of several initiatives,” he said. “Spending an exhaustive period here (at CID) has allowed me to know several officers and personnel closely and implement policies effectively.”
During his stint, the state government had launched a major drive to find missing children and schemes to address crimes related to women. “We have also launched a scheme for senior citizens’ security for which data collection is on,” he said.
Pratham was in the news in 2019 for his post on rapes in India. “I read three newspapers in the morning. All over India we have news of rape,” Pratham wrote in his Facebook post while listing the remedies available to women.
“Gujarat reported three rapes in the last 48 hours. I am shocked and thought it’s my moral and constitutional duty to share my unhappiness over the subject of women empowerment as I have been holding charge of additional director general of police (women cell) since 2012.”
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