Rajgarh: In a viral video, the setting is of a rally in Madhya Pradesh in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Amid the din, a young woman catches the attention of the viewer as she dives into the crowd, slaps protesters and hands them over to the police.

Meet 24-year-old Priya Verma, the Deputy Collector of Rajgarh district in MP and social media’s latest sensation.

The viral video of Verma taking on protesters at the rally organised by the BJP local unit in Beora town on Sunday polarised social media and her name was soon trending.

For Verma, taking challenges head-on is not new. Born in a humble family in Mangliya village of Indore district, Verma’s father ran a general store.

In a previous interview with News18, Verma said her parents were often ridiculed for giving birth to a girl child. As Verma grew up, she took the discrimination and gender disparity as a challenge and decided to make her parents proud.

Undeterred by her hardships, coupled with financial constraints, Verma started preparing for MP Public Service Commission exam but had no means to join any tutorial.

She studied on her own and sought guidance from seniors in the preparation to clear pre-exam. For mains, she got permission to attend a tutorial and cleared the exams. She was then offered Deputy Jailor’s post in 2015.

Verma continued her pursuit and got selected as Deputy Superintendent of Police in 2016 at the age of 21 and in 2017, she was selected as Deputy Collector, securing fourth rank in MPPCS exam at state level.

She also inspired several youths in her village to prepare for civil services and helps out civil service aspirants through social media. The young officer holds counselling sessions for students and is a crusader for women’s rights.

(With inputs from Manish Rathore, Rajgarh)