Widely known for his splendid devotion to duty and impeccable integrity Kishore Kunal is a former I.P.S. officer who took voluntary retirement from the coveted Indian Police Service almost a decade prior to his due superannuation. During his stint in I.P.S., he held important positions which included the post of S.S.P., Patna and that of Officer-on-Special Duty on Ayodhya in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India during the regime of two Prime Ministers—Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar. He was instrumental in the negotiations between the two conflicting parties for the amicable settlement of the dispute, and in this connection documents on Ayodhya were exchanged between them in the early nineties of the last century with his active initiative.
After voluntary retirement from I.P.S. in 2001, he was Vice-Chancellor of K.S.D. Sanskrit University, Darbhanga in Bihar. As an Honorary Secretary of the famous Hanuman Mandir, Patna he heralded a new era on 13th June 1993 by appointing a Dalit priest in the magnificent Mahavir (Hanuman) Mandir at Patna in presence of a galaxy of top religious leaders. During his long tenure as the President of Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts, he appointed Dalit priests in a number of temples in Bihar and sent a strong message of social equality in the most difficult arena of religion.
Kunal combined philanthropic activities with religious rituals by establishing five big hospitals through the aegis of Hanuman Mandir Trust. Its Cancer Hospital is one of the largest cancer hospitals in the country where poor patients get utmost care and substantial financial assistance from the temple trust for treatment. Its child and maternity hospital is one of the best hospitals in North India.
Kunal has been a reputed police officer, able administrator, acclaimed academician and social reformer. A diligent and assiduous student of History and Sanskrit he is an avid reader having a penchant for proof of everything which takes him into every possible detail and depth of the subject. An author of many brilliant books his magnum opus ‘Dalit-Devo Bhava’ demolishes many pernicious perceptions and myths concerning caste-discrimination in the Hindu society. His monumental work ‘Ayodhya Revisited’ has been well-received and highly appreciated by scholars and legal luminaries. Former Chief Justice of India Justice G.B. Patnaik observed in the Foreword to that book that it “would be a great asset to the nation at large, which may be helpful in defusing the tension between the two communities.” In the Foreword to the present work another Former Chief Justice of India Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah has graciously blessed that ‘the work of Sri Kishore Kunal may help to understand the historic background and antecedents of the dispute with a little more clarity and a little less emotive self-righteousness.’
Contact: kishorekunaal@gmail.com
