Some stories inspire because they end well. Others inspire because you cannot believe a person survived everything before the ending. The story of Dr. Sunita Jat belongs to the second category. When Sunita was six months pregnant, she was asked to choose between her career and her marriage. She chose herself. What followed was nothing short of a miracle.
Today, she is a medical officer who secured All India Rank 23 in UPSC Combined Medical Services (CMS) 2025. But behind that achievement lies a story of a daughter who lost her father, a woman abandoned during pregnancy, and a mother who studied for one of India's toughest exams while raising an infant.
A Girl from a Village Where Daughters Were Not Expected to Dream
Sunita was born in the small village of Suwana in Rajasthan, where girl education was rare and child marriages were common. Families worried more about finding husbands than building careers for their daughters. But Sunita wanted to study. Fortunately, one man never stopped believing in her: her father.
"He never listened to anybody," said Sunita. "People kept telling him, 'Get her married, get her engaged.' But my father would always say, 'No, I want to educate my daughter.'" He enrolled her in a local government school. "I completed my Class 10 from there and wanted to become a doctor," said Sunita. "But in my village, Science and Biology were not available. To study those subjects, I had to move to a city." That was a huge challenge because sending a girl to another district for studies was almost impossible there. But Sunita’s father stood by her. "He said, 'My daughter wants to study, and I will educate her.' He never listened to relatives or society. He sent me to Bhilwara, where I completed my Class 11 and 12," she said.
After that, Sunita needed coaching for the medical entrance exam. "There were no coaching institutes in Bhilwara then, so I had to go to Kota. That was an even bigger challenge," said Sunita. But her father took her to Kota himself. "He got me admitted to a private institute, where I studied for two years."
When Sunita secured admission into one of the top medical colleges in the country, she saw pride in her father’s face. "The night my result came, he could not sleep. We spent the entire night talking. Everyone in the village was congratulating him that his daughter had become a doctor," she recalled.
During her final year, marriage proposals started coming. "I was already around 24–25 years old, which was considered quite late in our community. In many places around us, girls were married off at 8, 10, or 12 years of age." But her father always said, "First, my daughter will study and stand on her own feet. Marriage can wait."
In the meantime, her brother had secured a job as a police constable and had gone for training. "My father felt all his dreams were coming true," said Sunita. It remains one of her happiest memories. It is also why what happened next broke her completely.
The Phone Call She Still Remembers
One morning, around 4 am, a relative called and told her that her father was unwell. She rushed home. As she approached the house, she noticed a crowd gathered outside. The moment she walked in, she knew. Her father was gone. "I asked them, 'Why did you lie to me? Why didn't you tell me the truth?'" she says. The family later explained that they feared she would not be able to handle the shock while traveling.
After that, Sunita fell into severe depression. "It felt like all my father’s dreams and all the years of hard work had ended," said Sunita. "Everything I was, everything I had achieved, was because of him." Just one month later, she had an important examination. But she could barely get through the day. "I stopped taking calls. I stopped talking to people. I was not ready for anything." Then one of her teachers intervened. "He told me, 'This was your father's dream. You have to complete it.'" Those words became the push she desperately needed. She appeared for the examination and succeeded. Later, she learned that medical officers are also recruited through UPSC. "I filled out the form and started preparing. I cleared almost every stage, and I even received an interview call letter," she recalled.
At the time, she believed the hardest phase of her life was behind her. She was wrong.
The Day She Was Dropped at Her Parents' House
As she progressed in her career, proposals began arriving. Eventually, one match seemed right. Before marriage, she was completely honest about her ambitions. She made it clear that she wanted to continue studying and working. According to Sunita, her future husband and his family assured her that they had no objections. "They told me I could work anywhere in India if I got selected," she recalls. Believing those promises, she agreed to marry.
"Unfortunately, my UPSC interview in December did not work out. Then I discussed future plans with my husband and family. Their first priority was having a child. They openly said they wanted a son," she recalled. "I had an opportunity to teach students online from home, and my in-laws agreed to that. I joined a medical college in Rajasthan on paper while working remotely. Soon after, I became pregnant," said Sunita. "When I was six months pregnant, the college called me for a mandatory two-day inspection visit. I informed my husband that I needed to attend." Her husband’s response stunned her.
According to Sunita, he told her, "You are six months pregnant. Have this child, raise the child. I don't want you to work anywhere." She asked him, "If you wanted a housewife, why did you marry me? Why promise me something else?" Sunita then told him to drop her at her parents’ house.
She Was Abandoned While Pregnant
On April 20, 2023, her husband dropped her at her parents' home. Then he left. According to Sunita, after that day he blocked her. There were no calls, no messages, no attempts to check on her health, nothing. "I was six months pregnant," she says. "And my only mistake was that I wanted to work."
When she was close to delivery, Sunita was facing serious emotional breakdowns. She remembers wanting to call him. But she had been blocked. Her baby was born prematurely and had to be admitted to the NICU. Even then, she says, neither her husband nor his family came to see the child. "It was their own child," she says. "They didn't even come to see him."
Sunita says life after delivery was not easy at all. People constantly taunted her. "They insulted my parents and questioned my father’s character. At that point, I decided that I had to answer them through my success."
A Mother, a Baby, and a Dream
Ask Sunita about her success and she quickly shifts the focus to someone else: her mother. "There are no words for what my mother did for me," she says. Every morning at 5 am, her online classes began. Coincidentally, that was also the time her baby woke up. "Every morning, my mother would take my baby with her while doing her work so that I could attend my classes. No matter how cold or rainy it was, she never complained," she recalled. "She would tell me only one thing: 'You study. If you have decided to do this, then do it properly. I am with you.'"
At the same time, Sunita’s divorce case was going on. Every 15–20 days, there would be court hearings. "The day before each hearing, I could not sleep. Seeing my husband in court made me angry because he had once promised to support all my dreams." But despite the difficulties, she worked harder than ever. The examination was held on 24 December 2024. Afterwards, the interview went well too. Sunita recalls, "On the day of the final result, with great nervousness, I opened the PDF. I checked the first 10 names, then 20 names. My name was not there. Then I saw Rank 23. There it was: 'Sunita Jat.'"
After years of struggle, her father’s dream had finally come true. Today, she tells every woman they must step out of their comfort zone. "If you stay in your comfort zone, you cannot achieve great things."
Sunita had two choices. She could have stayed home as a housewife for the rest of her life. That would have been the easier option. But she chose to struggle. And if Sunita Jat's story proves anything, it is this: Dreams are expensive. But giving up on them can cost even more.
