Former IPS and AAP candidate against Shashi Tharoor: More about Ajit Joy

FOMER IPS officer and Supreme Court lawyer Ajit Joy has been nominated by Aam Aadmi Party as its candidate from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, a constituency currently held by union minister of state for HRD Shashi Tharoor. Son of an Air Force officer and 1992 batch IPS officer who quit the service to become a lawyer, Joy had earlier…

served as superintendent of police (SP) at Kishanganj, Giridih (now in Jharkhand), Khagaria and Chapra. He is often credited with introducing community policing at Khagaria besides starting the concept of Model Police Stations in the state.
Joy hogged the limelight a decade ago when he was appointed as SP of Chapra district of Bihar by the Election Commission of India even when the state government had objected to it. The elections in Chapra front-paged national dailies because of the high-profile contest between RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
In 2004, Joy went on a long leave to begin legal practice in the Supreme Court. He was then SP (vigilance). In fact, Joy began his career as a lawyer, practicing criminal and constitutional law both in Kerala High Court and Supreme Court of India, even before he joined police. Later, he took sabbatical from the service to complete LLM from Harvard Law School.
After leaving the police, Joy had a stint at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In other words, AAP spotted someone with UN background to place against Tharoor.
Married to Mintu, Joy has a son and a daughter.