S. Sripal was an Indian police commissioner who was Director General of Police in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Early life

Sripal, who was born of a devout and erudite

Tamil Jain Tamil Jains (Tamil Samaṇar, from Prakrit '' samaṇa'' "wandering renunciate") are Tamils from Tamil Nadu, India, who practice Jainism (Tamil ). The Tamil Jain is a microcommunity of around 85,000 (around 0.13% of the population of Tamil Nad ...

family from a village about south of Chennai, was known even during his childhood days for his talent in reciting from memory, Bakthamaram slogans, hundreds of verses from other Jaina Tamil works like Naladiar, Jeevaka Chinthamani etc., and for trotting to the temple daily, sitting erect, completely engrossed in the pujas with such devotion. After graduation in Economics from Loyola College, Chennai, Sripal entered the

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...

in 1960 and rose from the rank of Assistant superintendent of Police to the top-most post of

Director General of Police Director general of police (DGP) is a rank in the Indian Police Service, held by the highest ranking police officer in a State or a Union Territory of India, typically heading the state or the UT police force. The DGP is appointed by the cabin ...

Professional career

Sripal was Assistant Superintendent of Police in the towns of Namakkal and

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

, and Superintendent of Police in

North Arcot district North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

and

Madurai district Madurai district is one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts of the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India., National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Ag ...

. He worked to end gang warfare in

Kolli Hills Kolli may refer to: * Kolli, Iran (disambiguation), places in Iran * Kolli Hills, is a small mountain range located in central Tamil Nadu * Kolli Pratyagatma, better known as Kotayya Pratyagatma * Kolli Srinath Reddy better known as K. Srinath Reddy ...

Kalrayan Hills The Kalvarayan Hills are a major range of hills situated in the Eastern Ghats of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Along with the Pachaimalai, Alavaimalai, Javadi, and Shevaroy hills, they separate the Kaveri River basin to the south f ...

and Madurai town and was involved in cases such as apprehending wire thieves in Salem district and a gang of murderers responsible for killing taxi drivers. Later, he moved into specialised fields such as CID. He served as Commissioner of Police in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

for over five years and was the Chief of Police in

state between 1991–95. In recognition of his service, Sripal was awarded the Police medal and the President of India Police Medal. Sripal participated in the Asian Pacific Conference of Prison Administrators held at

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

in 1989, where he spoke on “Penal Philosophy", and he represented India in the International Police Organization General Assembly meeting held in Rome in 1994. Sripal has written two

Tamil-language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pud ...

books, titled ''Chintamani Poonga'' (''Garden of Thoughts'') and ''Painthamizh Poonga'' (''Garden of Sweet Tamil''). He has also contributed to periodicals, magazines,

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

and

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

. He was the architect of the Research Foundation for Jainology in Tamil Nadu, of which he was the chairman for over a decade from its inception. He had succeeded in creating a full-fledged Department of Jainology in

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

which also conducts courses through correspondence. He was largely instrumental in publishing under the auspices of this department a book entitled ''A topographical list of Jain Inscriptions in Tamil Nadu''. This book enumerates 530 inscriptions in almost all the districts of Tamil Nadu some of which date back to before the Christian era.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sripal, S Indian police chiefs Tamil Nadu Police 1938 births 2014 deaths 20th-century Indian Jains 21st-century Indian Jains