North East Women SWAT Team to Guard National Capital under Delhi Police

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI, Aug 10: It’s a Northeast women SWAT team of Delhi police.

As many as 40 women commandos from Northeast will be deployed during the Independence Day celebrations in the national capital to ensure security.

The commandos are members of a hardcore SWAT team raised in the Delhi police.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday congratulated Delhi Police for this initiative in the direction of women empowerment. Singh said that Delhi Police has given an opportunity to women to prove themselves by entrusting them with new responsibility.

He also said that all these women police personnel belong to the North Eastern states and he termed it as an example of integrating various regions in Delhi Police. He also appreciated Delhi Police for providing free self-defence training to about 3 lakh female students and working women and housewives, thus making them independent. Trained by specialists from India and abroad, these women constables from north-eastern States have been inducted into the squad after a rigorous, 15-month training. Formation of the SWAT team is termed to be the brainchild of Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik.

The formation of this team is being considered a big achievement as most western countries do not have all-women SWAT teams due to the kind of training required.

All members of the SWAT team are trained in the Israeli Krav Maga, an unarmed combat style, and equipped with MP5 submachine guns and Glock 21 pistols.

These commandos will be stationed at strategic locations in central and south Delhi. Amid intelligence reports of women fidayee planning to target the capital, this all-women unit would help the security apparatus around Red Fort and India Gate as well.

All the women commandos have undergone a rigorous training of 15 months as against 12 months for general duty male constables. They further honed their skills at NSG Centre, Manesar.

“They are experts at unarmed combat, ambush and counter ambush jungle operation, urban operation which includes building interventions, vehicle, bus intervention and VVIP security. They have also been imparted basic knowledge of explosives and IEDs apart from being trained to use a wide array of weapons,” officials said.