Don’t interpret my tears as weakness, says IPS officer

LUCKNOW: A day after the pictures of a woman IPS officer wiping off tears following a purported rebuff by a BJP MLA went viral, the cop took to social media to clarify that she was not weak and had only got emotional on finding support in her senior official.

In a Facebook post addressed to her supporters, ASP Charu Nigam said: “To everyone who has turned up in my support... my training hasn’t taught me to be weak. I just did not expect that my SP city Ganesh Saha Sir would outrightly reject the irrational argument (of the MLA) and talk about my injury. I was the senior-most officer at the spot but when sir came and stood by the force, I got emotional.”

Nigam broke into tears when BJP MLA from Gorakhpur Sadar seat Radha Mohan Das Agarwal snubbed her publicly for police action on a group of women agitating against liquor shops in Gorakhpur.

The Uttar Pradesh IPS Association on Monday sought a report from senior police officers in Gorakhpur over the matter.

In her post, Nigam added, “Media has taken this stand because they (journalists) saw both the incidents and this shows the positivity of the media in Gorakhpur. I am thankful to them .... ”

“Mere aasuon ko meri kamzori na samajhna, kathorta se nahin komalta se ashq chhalak gaye. Mahila adhikari hoon tumhara gurur na dekh payega, sachchai mein hai zor itna apna rang dikhlaega. (Do not misinterpret my tears as my weakness, it rolled down due to my inherent softness. Your haughtiness can’t see a woman officer but the truth will ultimately prevail),” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Agarwal addressed the media saying, “The pain of the victims of police action is no less than that of the woman IPS officer. I am deeply saddened by the way media portrayed me as a goonda lawmaker in the last 24 hours but neglected the voice of women who were beaten up by the police.”