BENGALURU: The first batch of 100 women in the Corps of Military Police (CMP) have almost completed their training and will graduate as Lance Naiks on May 8 after a year of rigorous training.This is the first time that the CMP has recruited women in posts below the rank of officer, said Lieutenant Colonel Julee Singh, Corps of Army Air Defence, adding that the aim is to make women military police a force multiplier.
Once they graduate, the sepoys — as the trainee Lance Naiks are called — will be assigned various roles in 11 locations across the country. These include military operations, frisking women at check posts and during search operations, investigating sexual assaults such as rape, molestation and sexual harassment in family quarters.
Among those recruited include eight from Karnataka, 26 from Haryana, 27 from Uttar Pradesh, two from Himachal Pradesh, six from Kerala, one each from Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan, two from the Northeast, and one or two from other states.
According to CMP’s data, most of the sepoys have a background in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and are aged between 19-21. Eighty of the women are still undergraduates who will be allowed to complete their studies after they graduate from the CMP Centre and School. “My father served in the 130 Air Defence regiment. That motivated me to join in the Army,” said Jyoti M Hanchinamani, a 22-year-old BSc second-year student, who hails from Bailhongal. But her choice of career comes with its quirks. “Many people in my village did not recognise me (when I visited) due to the army-style haircut,” she says.
Arithi Talwar, from Kagawad in Belagavi adapted early to the training. “I struggled for a weeks, but managed to perform well in physical tests due my NCC training,” she says. Ask her which part of the training she liked best, and the 22-year-old promptly replies: “Investigating crimes”.