Chhattisgarh forms women police band in Naxal-hit Bastar

The Chhattisgarh police haveraised the state's first women police band in Naxal-hit Bastardistrict, giving an opportunity to women personnel in the unitgenerally dominated by men, an official said on Wednesday.

The band, which has 16 trained members, including ninewomen, will soon be converted into an all-women police band,Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said.

The newly raised band performed for the first timebefore Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on January 26 during hisvisit to Jagdalpur, he said.

Initially, the band has been trained to play 12patriotic songs, which they will perform on special occasionslike VIP visits, parades and government programmes, he said.

''Women security personnel are being given equalopportunity in every activity, including anti-Naxaloperations, in the Bastar division,'' the IG said.

The step to form an exclusive women police band is astep towards this direction, he said.

Generally, women police personnel are given law andorder maintenance duties, while the police band and ceremonialguard are perceived as a male bastion, the official said.

''But, in the last couple of years, women commandos inthe Bastar region have proved this perception wrong byactively taking part in counter-insurgency operations andshowing results,'' he said.

In 2019, the Chhattisgarh police raised a squad ofwomen District Reserve Guard (DRG) commandos, named as'Danteshwari Ladake', in Dantewada district of the Bastarregion to fight against Naxals.

''We want our women colleagues to perform better on thefield without any discrimination. Therefore, now they arebeing given an opportunity in police bands, ceremonial guardof honour and other ceremonial activities,'' the official said.

The idea of a women's police band was conceptualisedlast year when five-six members of the band retired.

''We then thought about it, and when women personnelshowed interest, their training was started,'' the IG said.

As of now, the band has 16 members, of whom nine arewomen constables.

More women personnel are being trained and they willsoon join to make it an all-women police band, he said.