The Indian Army has started training its first ever batch of women in any unit at its Corps of Military Police Centre and School in Bengaluru.
This is the first step towards inducting women in the Army’s rank and file. A total of 1,700 women military police will be inducted over a period of 17 years, the Ministry of Defence said here on Friday. All military police are trained at the Bengaluru CMP school.
As many as 99 women started their 61-week course here on January 6 with basic military and advanced provost training. Thereafter, they will be recruited as military police with the same roles and tasks as their male counterparts, both on peace time and operational work.
“The women military police, besides being employed on mandatory operational and peace time duties, will be an asset for investigation of gender specific crimes,” it said.
Already the CMP Centre and School has established infrastructure suitable for accommodating women recruits based on inputs from the Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai, Assam Rifles and National Cadet Corps and Officers’ Training Academy, Gwalior.
The process of recruiting women into the Army began in April last year when it placed an advertisement inviting women candidates as military police. The Army plans to induct women in phases and will eventually have them as 20% of the total strength of the Corps of Military Police.
Some of the roles of military police are policing cantonments and Army establishments, maintaining soldier movements, logistics, traffic, law and order and other rules on their premises, besides extending support to civil police.
Indian Air Force and Indian Navy have many women pilots in key roles. But in the Army, women were employed in its medical, engineering, signals, legal and educational wings.
The then Army Chief, Gen Bipin Rawat, had said last year that the process of recruiting women in a combat role would be initiated with their roles as military police.
