From bus-conductor's daughter to criminals' nightmare: An IPS officer's tale
What's the story
She is the Superintendent of Police in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district whom the local drug-dealers dread.
She has won the PM's Baton and Home Ministry's Revolver for being the best trainee, and all by the age of 29.
She hails from a struggling family, having a bus-conductor father and tailor mother, neither of whom has formal education.
But they made sure their daughter shined.
Support
Her parents insisted on education since Shalini was brilliant student
Shalini Agnihotri was born in Una district, a place where women are married off early, without even getting educated.
But her parents, Ramesh and Shubhlata Agnihotri, made sure Shalini doesn't stop at that.
She was after all a diligent student having scored 92.2% in Class-X (2004), and they wanted her to continue.
But she received a setback when she scored 77% in Class-XII.
She says
'I was able to do well because of relatives' comments'
"I was devastated by the results but my parents stood firm," she says, adding they didn't even allow relatives' sympathy to reach her, but "I was able to do well in college" because of that.
From DAV school, Dharamshala, she moved to the prestigious Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, where she topped.
She was content with a basic degree, but her parents wanted more.
Preparation
Internet was her coaching center where she spent hours researching
They "insisted that I enroll for a professional degree," but Shalini started preparing for UPSC discreetly.
Her coaching center was the Internet, where she "spent hours reading, researching, and just trying to understand how the exam works," while devouring newspapers and magazines.
She cracked the exam in her first attempt and became an IPS officer, eventually becoming the best all-rounder in IPS' 65th batch.
'Felt right'
At IPS training center, her father was called 'sir'
Recalling the first day at the Mussorie training academy, Shalini said one faculty member addressed her father as 'Sir.'
"At that moment, everything felt right," she said, pride in her eyes.
Subsequently, she won the award for being the best female officer trainee in outdoor subjects, a trophy for investigation, and another for the best essay on 'communal harmony and national integration'.
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Met her future husband during IPS training, married this March
She also found love in Sankalp Sharma during their training. Sharma, who is posted in UP as SP, married her in March this year. They were in courtship for seven years. While the marriage took place in Himachal, their reception took place in Jaipur.
Experience
As Assistant Superintendent of Police in Shimla, she learnt loads
Shalini was initially posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Shimla, where her four-year stint gave her a load of lessons.
She worked in some high-profile cases, like the rape and murder of an eight-year-old blind girl and another murder case in Shimla, where the convicts also got rigorous imprisonment.
Solely crediting her parents, she said her siblings are also settled because of them.
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'I never saw my parents indulge in anything'
"My elder sister is a dental-surgeon, and my brother is an Indian Army Lieutenant," she says, adding, "While growing up, I never saw my parents indulge in anything." They never owned a car and their half-made house was also "mortgaged to fund my sister's education."