WUNRN
INDIA - WOMEN PATROL BORDER IN SOUTH
BENGAL SECURITY FORCE
By Aditi Bhaduri
WeNews correspondent
January 20, 2010
Indian women have made history since September by holding combat positions
along the country's difficult border with
BONGAON, India (WOMENSENEWS)--The clear blue sky with twirls of white clouds
rises above lush green fields while a soft wind blows.
It is a
quiet and picturesque spot in the southern region of the eastern Indian state
of
But Rita
Chakla, 23, is not there for sightseeing. That's obvious by her military
fatigues.
Chakla,
and some 500 young women with her, made history in September by becoming the
country's first female combatants in the Border Security Force or BSF.
Now she is
among 31 female constables stationed to the South Bengal Frontier, policing the
Indo-Bangladesh border, which passes through heavily populated villages that
contribute to a steady movement of people and goods, much of it illegal.
Vikash
Chandra, deputy inspector general of the South Bengal Frontier, says that
economic migrants and trans-border criminals are also joined by fundamentalist
and terrorist actors from
Because
men are frequently apprehended by the security personnel, especially when
security was heightened after the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai,
women are being increasingly used for smuggling goods and fake currency notes.
In 2009,
147 women were held for smuggling fake Indian currency across the border, which
helps explain the presence of the female border security forces.
Women's
eNews recently interviewed about a dozen of them to find out about their work
and how they liked it.
Their days
begin at 4 a.m. and they report to their posts with their rifles ready at 5.30
a.m.
There are
two shifts: 6 a.m. to noon and noon to 6 p.m.
So far, the
women are not posted on night duty, although they can be woken in case of an
emergency to help check any women who have been apprehended.
Their work
entails inspecting women who want to cross the border and looking out for any
trying to steal their way across. The combat part of the job surfaces when a
woman flees, requiring them to pursue and physically apprehend her. They can
also retaliate if the Bangladesh Border Patrol, on the other side of the
border, opens fire.
New
recruit Shrabanti Haldar, 22, said since she started the work in September, she
has discovered a Bangladeshi woman trying to smuggle out Phensidyl, a popular
intoxicant. "She had the bottles strapped to her thighs and it required
women to frisk her and have her strip," she said.
Haldar
also found another woman trying to smuggle saris by wearing a number of them on
top of each other.
Once they
apprehend such women, the security forces take them to senior staff in border
security. They in turn deliver them to local police or border customs
officials.
Putul
Murmu, another female constable, described apprehending a mother-daughter duo
from
Many of the women who engage in such smuggling and
criminal activities are extremely poor.
But
Haldar, the daughter of a carpenter and the eldest of three sisters, said she
had no sympathy for the women they stopped.
"No,
not at all," she said, her eyes hardening. "Many of us have had hard
lives, but we have been law-abiding."
A recent
government report found more than 10 million Bangladeshi migrants live
illegally in
Counterfeit
Indian currency is printed in
Advocacy
groups here also find the Indo-Bangladesh border rife with human traffickers
who smuggle Bangladeshi children, many of them girls, along a route through
Chakla
said she applied for the dangerous, nontraditional work "for the challenge
of it."
The pay
package--about $280 a month on top of accommodation, food, health care,
etc.--was also alluring.
Chakla
said she got the idea when she saw a male cousin prepare for a border security
posting. "He tried hard but failed," she said, referring to the
written test required for the posting. "But I was by his side during his
trials and I got interested. He told me when the BSF advertised for female
recruits and I got interested. My cousin helped me out with the
application."
Chakla, a
native of the district of Midnapore in
Murmu, 22,
the daughter of a railway staffer, had a harder time overcoming her family's
resistance. Once she cleared that hurdle she faced the problem of surviving the
fitness test and training period.
In the
fitness test, the women have to run a distance of 800 meters within four
minutes, complete a 3-foot high jump and a 9-foot long jump.
During
their training they have to learn to shoot a rifle, achieve a running speed of
3.2 kilometers in 17 minutes and jump over 9-feet long ditches, among other
feats. An oral exam and medical tests follow.
The work,
Haldar says, is "thrilling" and reminds her of a popular TV show
about Kiran Bedi, a policewoman.
"Bedi
had been my ideal and I wanted to be like her. Since childhood I had wanted to
do something for my county," she said. "This is a great opportunity
to serve my country."
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