All-women 'Durga Fighter' force constituted to combat Naxalism in Chhattisgarh

In a bid to promote gender equality in the force and to combat the atrocities of Naxals in Chattisgarh's Naxal-hit Sukma district, the Chattisgarh police on Sunday, 22 August 2021, formed a 'Durga Fighter' force comprising 32 female staff. 

In an interaction with media persons, Sukma Superintendent of Police (SP), Sunil Sharma stated that the new recruits will be trained for a month. "We are happy to inform that, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, Chhattisgarh women commandos met the officials to constitute a District Reserve Force (DRG) team for them. The proposal has been accepted and the team will be called 'Durga Fighters' which will have 32 female personnel. They will be trained for commando duty for a month. They will perform all active duties."

A move to promote egalitarianism

The Sukma SP maintained that the idea behind an all-women force is to promote gender equality. "Women are equal to men," he added.

Captain of the 'Durga Fighters', Asha Sen said that the force has pledged to make Sukma a 'Naxal free region'. "Today, we all have pledged to make Sukma a 'Naxal free region'. Just like brothers and sisters promise to protect each other on Raksha Bandhan, we all have pledged to protect the people of the Sukma region from Naxalites. We now feel equal to men as we have been given a place in District Reserve Guards (DRG) team," Sen asserted.

Recent Naxal strike 

It is pertinent to note here that two Indo-Tibetian Border Police (ITBP) personnel were martyred during an encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Friday, 20 August 2021. The encounter took place near the Kademeta installation of the ITBP’s 45th battalion at 12:10 pm when a team was out for patrolling. A team of the ITBP was ambushed and fired upon by a group of the Naxals in which Assistant Commandant (AC) Sudhakar Shinde and Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Gurmukh Singh sustained bullet injuries and later succumbed. Inspector General of Bastar range P Sundarraj had said that the Naxals fled from the scene following the attack and took away weapons, bulletproof jackets and wireless set before leaving the spot. Assistant Commandant Sudhakar Shinde and Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Gurmukh Singh, both from the ITBP's 45th battalion, were martyred in the firing.