Life Sketch of Late DIG Anil Kumar Singh

On 10th November, 1942, in Bargawn (a small village in Konch Thana, 30 kilometers east of Gaya district) a son was born to Late Smt. Radha Mani Devi and Late Shri Chandradeo Narain Singh. At that juncture the parents would have hardly thought that the young one would bring so many laurels to the village and would influence the life of each and everyone he met along. The person we are talking about is Late Shri Anil Kumar Singh, IPS (Retd.).

Shri Anil Kumar Singh was the only child of his parent. The father of the child could not live long enough to see him grow and passed away when the child was merely four years old and when he needed the guidance and love of his father. However, it did not deter Late Smt. Radha Mani Devi and she with the timely help from Late Shri Vishnudeo Narain Singh (Uncle of the Shri Singh) resolved to give a decent upbringing to the child. Shri Singh did his initial schooling at Bargawn, Araria and Kishanganj-------the places where Late Shri Vishnudeo Narain Singh was transferred during his tenure as a police officer. Shri Singh did his Matriculation (10th) from Jila school, Purnia and Intermediate (10+2) from Jain College Arra.

Though Shri Singh did not have much of the guidance from family, he himself was quite clear as to what he wanted from life and which career path he wanted to pursue. Even as an adolescent, he was very popular amongst his friends and was liked by his teachers for his pleasant mannerisms and the spark of brilliance.

Shri Singh did graduation from St. Columba’s College, Hazaribagh, with Honours in Economics with Distinction in all subjects. During college days almost all the professors loved and praised him, as he was among a few who excelled academically as well as in extra curricular activities. At college he took a very active part in NCC and won prizes in sports like Table Tennis and Badminton for the college.

After finishing his graduation, Shri Singh moved to Patna to pursue his Post Graduation in Economics from Patna University. While pursuing his post graduation, he also got himself enrolled for Law classes at Patna Law College. During his post graduation period also he was equally popular among his professors and peers.

After taking his post graduation examinations, he sat for a few of the competitive examinations and got calls from State Bank of India and Bihar State Cooperative Bank in the officer cadre. Since he was the only child of his mother, she wanted him to be near to the home town, Shri Singh sacrificed better career opportunity of SBI and joined Bihar State Cooperative Bank as Inspecting Officer in 1967. By that time result for the BPSC examinations were awaited.

In 1968, Shri Singh got married to Ms. Manju Sinha, the youngest daughter of Late Smt Sita Sinha. and Late Shri Surendra Dhari Sinha of Dharhara. Soon after that the results of BPSC were announced and Shri Singh ranked high enough to be selected as DSP. After his selection to the Commission, he quit the services of the Bank and went for Training at Police Training College (PTC), Hazaribagh. However, soon a tragedy struck and Shri Singh lost his mother while he was undergoing the training at PTC.

After finishing his training, Shri Singh had his first posting as Town DSP, Jamshedpur. As a policeman, he commanded two sub-divisions, two districts namely Bhojpur and Dumka, two Armed Police units, served as S.P. CID, Bihar, DIG & Principal of Bihar Police Training College and DIG CID & Anti-dacoity, Bihar. During his tenure as policeman, Shri Singh tried his level best to free society of the criminal elements and to transform the society so that it could be a better place for the future generations to come. All the institutions that he headed became source of inspiration for the other government offices. The transformation of Police Training College into a vibrant and living institution goes to his credit.

Shri Singh was also sent on deputation to the disturbed district of Kokrajhar in Assam, where he was much praised for his pragmatic approach and able guidance, which helped in pacifying the disturbance and bring back normalcy to the area.

Shri Singh had also served as Additional Chief Vigilance Officer & Chief of Security Division of Bokaro Steel Plant (A subsidiary of SAIL), Bokaro for three years and served as Chief Security & Vigilance of the Bihar Food & Civil Supplies Corporation for three years.

Shri Singh was the only officer to be awarded Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1986 from Bihar Cadre. He was also the only officer from Bihar and Jharkhand Cadre to be awarded President Police Medal for Distinguished Services in the year 2001.

Shri Singh Represented Bihar Police in All India Police Science Congress in 1997 at Jammu at Chandigarh in 2000 and Ranchi in 2001. He was also an active contributor of many articles to some of the leading Journals and Police Bulletin. Very unlike a policeman, even the Academicians admired his literary flair and love for the language and his command over both English and Hindi. He also had a liking for Bangla and Punjabi and could speak them with fluency. His dressing sense was impeccable and was emulated by many.

Shri Singh retired as a member of Indian Police Service with effect from 30th November 2002 and after that he took to the Legal profession and started practicing as an Advocate in Patna High Court. Though, he was practicing merely to keep himself engaged after the retirement and did not accept any fee from the needy, in a very short span of time, he had established himself as a very sincere and intelligent lawyer. It was to this effect that ESPN (a leading sports Channel) had entered into an agreement with him for looking into infringement of Patent, Trademark and Cable and Broadcasting Laws. His principles were so dear to him, that he never accepted bail cases, when this is considered to be the most lucrative business for lawyers.

Shri Singh’s personality and character was such that anybody who saw him could not resist his charm. He loved reaching out to people and was ever willing to help people; people not only close to him, but even people who were at times total strangers. He believed in the true spirit of humanity and never discriminated the people based on their caste, class or creed. He was equally popular and liked by youngsters as he was popular among the people of his age group.

Shri Singh was very actively, though not overtly, involved with a lot of charitable activities while serving as a police officer and even after retirement as a practicing lawyer. He was very much moved by the widespread evils of the society and always did his bit to eliminate it. Though, there is a saying which goes…..” Its better to be a alive dog than to be a dead Lion”, Shri Singh believed that it’s always better be a lion, whether dead or alive. He was a man of principles and lived his life by his own terms and conditions; a life which was King size in all the aspects.

The concept of community policing was very dear to him. He had special concern for victims of crimes. He believed that family members of victims of crime have to suffer twice, once at the hands of criminals and again at the hands of insensitive criminal justice system. In an attempt to give voice to them, he had prepared all the materials for filing a PIL in Patna High Court but as luck would have it, his family themselves became a victim of crime.

He epitomized Truth, Strength and Courage in all the sphere of life and it was only to this effect that on 4th July, 2006, he laid down his life fighting for the values he believed in and protecting people who were total strangers to him. Shri Singh was not only a cop by profession but was a cop by nature also. Serving police officers look the other way to acts like this, but here was a retired police officer who gave up his life protecting others. It has been rightly said, “Once a Cop always a Cop” and Shri Singh has proved it so right. Not only his life; but his eternal sacrifice has earned him a respect in the eyes of even total strangers. He used to mention to his friends and family that “I would like to be born as a police officer in all my births”

Shri Singh is survived by his wife Smt. Dr. Manju Singh and three sons.

-- Compiled by Sri Siddhartha Kumar ,Son of Late DIG Anil Kumar Singh from Bahrain