Patna: Nearly 18 months after her sudden resignation shook the police fraternity, former Darbhanga Rural SP Kamya Mishra has publicly spoken about why she quit the Indian Police Service and what she learned from her six-year stint in Bihar.
On August 5, 2024, news of Kamya Mishra’s resignation surprised many. At just 28, she had cracked the UPSC in her first attempt in 2019, became an IPS officer, and earned the nickname “Lady Singham” for her tough image against criminals. Her resignation letter mentioned only “personal and family reasons.” The government accepted it on March 27, 2025. Since then, Kamya had remained silent — until now.
Speaking at the TEDxGIMS talk show, Kamya said, “You never really take off the uniform. It just changes its form.”
‘Bihar Never Made Me Feel I Was a Woman Officer’
Kamya traced her journey from a small town in Odisha — Rairangpur — to becoming one of the youngest ASPs in the country at 23. She served in Bihar for six years, starting as SHO in Lalganj (Vaishali), then ASP Sadar and Secretariat SP in Patna, and later SP Rural in Darbhanga.
“Bihar gave me everything — I understood it, lived it,” she said. “This state never once made me feel that I was a lesser officer because I am a woman. My seniors ensured I went on raids and led operations just like any male colleague.”
She described Bihar as the land of Buddha and Mahavira and said her understanding of the state came not from imagination but from her six years in khaki.
Two Incidents That Changed Her Perspective
Kamya shared two deeply emotional experiences from her service.
The first was her very first arrest, made during Chhath Puja. Unaware then of the festival’s cultural weight, she went ahead with the arrest despite a colleague’s request to delay it. The accused’s mother cried and begged her to stop. Days later, the same woman returned with thekua prasad and told Kamya, “You did the right thing. Maybe my son will now walk the right path.”
“That’s when I learned how capable ordinary people in Bihar are of doing extraordinary things,” Kamya said.
The second incident involved an eight-year-old rape survivor. “I could arrest the accused, but I couldn’t arrest the mindset that produced him,” she said. “That day, something inside me broke.”
‘Police Job Means Tough Choices Every Day’
Kamya said policing is not just a job but a constant emotional battle.
“When people celebrate Holi and Diwali at home, a police officer is worrying about communal tension. You stand in other people’s problems and fights as a direct party,” she said.
She added that the hardest part is watching colleagues get injured or die in front of your eyes.
“The irony is, we don’t get thanks. We get angry seniors for case diary mistakes, angry families because we’re never home, and angry citizens because expectations aren’t met,” she said, calling police work “cleaning society’s dirty water — which is actually human suffering.”
Why She Quit the IPS
Explaining her resignation, Kamya said, “This is not about giving up. It is about making space for something new.”
She added that the government trained her beautifully, and now she wants to expand that impact beyond the limits of the uniform.
“Sometimes leaving is not quitting. It is growing. Some people grow within the system. Some grow beyond it,” she said.
She compared life to a canvas: “You can keep drawing between the same lines, or you can change the canvas.”
Serving in a New Way Through Education
Kamya said Bihar gave her a new way of seeing society and pushed her to take the biggest decision of her life — leaving the civil services.
“I still chose to serve, just in a different way — through education, by giving people opportunities,” she said. “Every criminal I interrogated could have been me, if not for my education and my parents.”
Addressing young professionals afraid to quit unfulfilling careers, she said, “Sometimes what you are doing is not really working. Real strength is knowing when to let go and what to build next.”
Kamya Mishra is married to IPS officer Avdhesh Dixit, currently posted in Lakhisarai. Once known as ‘Lady Singham’, Kamya is now redefining her identity — away from the uniform, but still committed to public service in a new form.
