Indian police inspector Shakti Devi has won the top honour as the International Female Peacekeeper awarded by the United Nation's police division for her "exceptional achievements" during her work in Afghanistan.
Devi, who has been working in the Jammu and Kashmir Police organisation for the past 14 years, has been deployed in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). She won the award especially for her role in helping victims of sexual violence and for leading Women Police Councils in several parts of Afghanistan, according to Press Trust of India.
She was awarded the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014 during the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) conference held earlier this month in Winnipeg, Canada.
Devi has reportedly helped boost the status of female police in Afghanistan, while also pushing for safety outreach programs in schools to provide safety to girl students.
"In addition, her consistent engagement in improving the service for victims of sexual and gender-based violence has led to successful investigation and prosecution," the UN agency ws quoted saying.
Devi had also served at the UN Peace Mission in Timor-Leste in 2012.
Kashmir DGP Rajendra Kumar congratulated Devi on her achievement, while Twitterati too applauded the policewoman for her achievement.
Congrats to Indian cop #ShaktiDevi on winning UN's International Female Peacekeeper Award pic.twitter.com/FmZBWR4VjH
— Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) October 14, 2014
Proud of U -Indian cop #ShaktiDevi wins UN's international female peacekeeper award @ibnkhabar @ibnlive @awasthis pic.twitter.com/8hzMVCjRK2 — Kirandeep IBN7 (@raydeep) October 14, 2014
India is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, with more than 1,70,000 troops in 43 out of 69 peacekeeping missions mandated by the United Nations Security Council.
