Mangaluru: ‘Singham’, Karnataka cadre former IPS Officer Annamalai K has joined the BJP, on Tuesday, August 25. One of the most loved police officers of the state, this IIM graduate had turned his back to well-paid management jobs to make ‘friendly policing’ a reality.
As long as he donned the Khaki, he lived by this promise and now that he is venturing into politics, here are a few examples of how this officer showed the humane face of Khaki to the world.
* When mother of a 17-year-old rape victim from Kundapur, who was murdered by her perpetrators, looked into his eyes and asked if he can bring her daughter back, the officer, who was then the SP of Udupi district had said ‘No!’
“But, I will make sure her memory lives on,” he had told the grief-stricken mother.
Thus began ‘Akshata Devadiga Scholarship for girl stdents who have topped tenth standard examination in Byndoor taluk.
*Posted as SP of Chikkamagaluru, Annamalai came as a saviour for a young girl, whose older sister working as a head constable in a particular police station in the district abandoned her to marry the man she loved.
Annamalai, who was hearing the case said that since the Head Constable was a major and has the right to marry anyone she wished to, he was not in a position do anything about that, but what he did in personal capacity was that he sponsor the education of the younger sister. He told the young girl to study as much as she wished to and carve a niche for herself.
*Posted in Udupi, Annamalai developed deep interest in Islam and studied the Quran! The officer believed that the understanding of other religions is essential and misunderstanding about others’ beliefs leads to clashes.
“This was how I took ISIS head-on when stories of radicalisation floated in Muslim-dominated Bhatkal,” he once said.
*In 2017, he formed a peace committee meeting in Bababudangiri with leaders from all sides at the site of long-standing dispute between Hindus and Muslims. It was during his tenure that the Datta Mala Abhiyan was held peacefully for the first time. “This was how I took ISIS head-on.”
* To boost the morale of the policemen, as Udupi SP, he had made weekly offs mandatory for his men. He believed that this was one of the very important aspect to keep the policemen mentally relaxed. The former IPS officer had stated that he himself had availed only 21 leaves in five years.
*Tech savvy officer launched ‘Suraksha’ app to make complaint filing procedure easy and hassle-free for general public, in Udupi.
*Having quit the service to ‘do more’, Annamalai founded ‘We the Leaders’ Foundation. The Foundation aims to work in three areas that will define the aspirations of ‘new’ India- Skilling – from job seeking in stage 1 to job creation in stage 2, Dialogue for Development and Organic farming, living with needs in control and an alternate model of development.
* Despite having been born in Tamil Nadu, Annamalai always introduces himself as a proud Kannadiga, a Tamilian and an Indian.
