Gede (Nadia) :
For the first time, women commandos of the Border Security Force (BSF) have been patrolling the south Bengal frontier on the India-Bangladesh border in Nadia’s Krishnagar sector.
The deployment of the women personnel in night patrolling comes in the wake of security alerts claiming terror outfits can use young women in possible attacks around Independence Day.
Women BSF personnel have done “camp duty” at night in Punjab, which meant guarding the gates. There have not been reports, however, of women personnel being used in anti-sabotage or active patrolling in the night.
It is certainly the first time women are patrolling the border in Bengal.
The BSF began to think differently following the blasts in Burdwan’s Khagragarh on October 2, 2014, in which women played a key role. Razia Biwi, a homemaker, had allegedly played a key role in the Burdwan blast and in weaving a terror network.
In addition, there were reports that Bangladeshi terror outfits were recruiting young homemakers and training them.
“Intelligence inputs indicate that women with terror links may try to sneak in in the guise of cattle smugglers. Bangladeshi terror outfits such as the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are quite active in the border areas. They have recruited young homemakers and given them terror training. It is not easy for a male BSF officer to get into a combat with or frisk them. So women personnel were pressed into action,” said a BSF officer in Gede.
The BSF deployed the women in key stretches of the 235km sector in North 24-Parganas and Nadia.
For the past three days, women constables of the BSF’s 113th battalion posted in the Gede area of Nadia are on their toes round the clock along the India-Bangladesh border.
Three young women are in their camouflage uniform. They hold the sophisticated Insas and Beretta guns in their hands and night-vision cameras to their eyes. They are guarding the international rail tracks connecting Gede with Darshana in Bangladesh. The Indo-Bangla train, Maitree Express, uses these tracks.
“This is a challenging job. I have been enjoying it,” said a woman constable who was recruited in 2012.
A woman constable and a male constable share the same duties, BSF authorities said.
BSF South Bengal Frontier inspector-general Sandeep Salunke said: “A woman constable is supposed to perform all the duties of their male counterparts. Women have been trained to undertake any type of operation. So it is quite natural that they be engaged in night patrolling too.”
BSF started recruiting women constables in 2009 for the Punjab and Bengal borders. At present, it has over 2,000 women personnel, who have been given commando training. The force recently recruited 27 officers in the rank of assistant commandos through the UPSC.
Senior BSF officers said that even though there was no strict rule against engaging women commandos in night patrol, the force had nevertheless avoided deploying them frequently.
“In Bengal, they are being deployed the first time in patrolling and area dominance during night,” a senior BSF officer said.
The presence of women constables has already made a difference, officials here said.
“Many local villagers are involved in smuggling. They often try to smuggle small fertiliser bags, drugs, gold biscuits, silver and cattle. We were earlier unable to frisk the women involved. Villagers often raise allegations of molestation against our male jawans. But things have changed once women constables have been deployed along the border,” said the officer.
“Direct noticeable involvement of women involved in suspected criminal activities in border areas has also come down largely as women BSF personnel undertake random combing of villages along the border,” the officer added.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta, India / Front Page> Bengal> Story / by Subhasish Chaudhri / Sunday – August 16th, 2015