A total of 16 young women, mostly from villages across Karnataka, are learning to shoot, handle terror, and improve their weapon-handling skills as part of the training for the first batch of the all-woman Garuda commandos of the Karnataka Police. The pre-induction training of the special operational team Garuda, Karnataka’s own anti-terror force, is underway at Bengaluru’s Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
Senior state police official Bhaskar Rao on 5 February met the first batch of all-women Garuda commandos of the police. “We are giving good training to the women staff who are below 30 years of age. This training includes physical fitness and weapons handling. They have to be thoroughly trained. Other staff like KSRP, civil police, DAR, CAR cannot do these anti-terrorist operations. As it is an expensive training, it can’t be given to all. The government is giving amenities to all these commandos because they all have to be on alert 24/7. We have qualified professionals and we are capable of neutralising terrorists,” he said. Women staff from Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and Karnataka State Industrial Security Force voluntarily came forward to take up training, Rao said adding that the training is being imparted to 16 women now. Explaining about the training activities, Rao said that this is not “ordinary training.” The commandos have to undergo day and night training.
