Gadchiroli women cops undergo C-60 commando training

Nagpur: A group of women cops from Gadchiroli, responding to a call by SP Shailesh Balkawade, have undergone the ‘jungle warfare and guerrilla tactics’ of the district polices’ elite force ‘C-60 commandos’.
The unit of the women cops, groomed on the lines of C-60 commandos, are learnt to be kept reserved for a ‘specific purpose’.
The training and accomplishments of the C-60 commandos in dealing with Maoists violence had catapulted to a nationwide fame after the April 2018 encounters when they had set a benchmark by eliminating 40 cadres of the reds at Kasnasur-Boriya encounters.
Around a month ago, Balkawade had sent a wireless message to all the posts asking for women cops from the district who are keen to undergo ‘one-month training’ at the Gadchiroli polices’ own jungle warfare and guerrilla tactics academy in the district which trained the C-60 commandos. The SP had a handful of interested cops coming forward to join the training from different parts of the district.
Balkawade said the cops were hand-picked from the interested lot on the basis of their physical abilities and other parameters. “There was a specific reason for creating a group of women commandos but it cannot be discussed. We have just kept them ready and fit to serve the secret mission when required,” he said. “It’s a fact that Maoists have almost 50% of their dalam strength in women but our creating the specially trained group was not in respond to such a situation,” said the SP.
Balkawade also stated that women cops for the first time have been introduced in the ‘Long range patrolling’ (LRP) in which they are required to remain, operate and move in the forest in anti-Maoist missions for couple of days at a stretch. “We had already introduced women in the Short range patrolling (SRP) in the past but just now have started sending them on few LRPs too based on the situation but as a part of a team and not as an independent contingent,” he said.
Balkawade also extolled the contribution of the women in the ‘grambhets’ or village visits in collecting intelligence by meeting with the housewives who would not otherwise open up with men cops. “There are certain issues which women would not be able to discuss with men. In such a situation, women cops can more easily cater to such a need,” he said.
Balkawade also said women cops are now being more increasingly used in the outreach programs like ‘Jan jaagaran melawas’ or different camps in the interiors.