Chhattisgarh Deploys First Women Commando Unit In Anti-Maoist Force

For the very first time the Chhattisgarh police force has started to post women commandos in the District Anti-Maoist force. According to a senior official, these “women commandos were part of the security forces – short action teams.” They have already managed to eliminate 3 Maoists commanders in the past one month. This force is working for the safety of the public in general and to reduce the attacks by Maoists.

This specially raised squad is has been trained for three months in advanced in-house training, jungle warfare tactics, motorcycle patrolling in forest, map reading, understanding Maoist profiles and counter ambush strategy.

The newly joined women commandos are known as the “Danteshwari Ladake” (Danteshwari fighters). This squad of 30 women are led by Deputy Superintendent of the police force — Dineshwari Nand.

Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said: “A first-of-its-kind platoon of women DRG commandos has come up. In totality there are 30 recruits. Out of these 10 are surrendered women Maoists. Another 10 others are assistant constables, who were part of the erstwhile Salwa Judum (anti-Maoist militia) movement.”

This squad of 30 women are led by Deputy Superintendent of the police force — Dineshwari Nand.

Pallava needs to be given credit for starting this new women’s squad. He said: “Although the state police and paramilitary forces in Bastar have deployed women personnel but they have limited work. It is for the first time that an exclusive team of women commandos has been set-up to carry out counter insurgency operations shoulder to shoulder with male DRG members in the area.”

“The important factor is all of them are local residents, including surrendered Maoists and therefore are well acquainted with the forested terrain and the local language. All these are key elements in the fight against Maoists.” he further added.

Because of the introduction of the new women commandos’ squad, the number of anti-Maoist platoons is now six.

The important factor is all of them are local residents, including surrendered Maoists and therefore are well acquainted with the forested terrain and the local language.

Gange, a member of the platoon is a surrendered deputy commander. She said that now she feels very relieved after quitting the Maoist movement. She can now get married, something which was not allowed in the Maoist outfit. According to her, she is able to live with dignity as police personnel.

If we recall, Dantewada BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four police personnel had been killed on April 9, just before the first phase of the election. In October last year, during an assembly poll, people were killed in a Maoist attack.

This group of women commandos are doing outstanding work and we wish them many successes.

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Kavya Shah is an intern at SheThePeople.Tv