Social pressure a challenge, say CISF women marshals
Sunday, constable Sapna Tomar got a call from her parents, asking her to return home in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat urgently. When she rushed home, she was in for a surprise. Her family had chosen a groom for her and had even made arrangements for her engagement ceremony. But all of 22, Tomar said, she doesn’t want to get married so early on in life but she “had to get engaged because of family pressure”.
Tomar is one of the 16 women — who form the first batch of the “all-women” terminal marshals to be deployed at the terminals inside Delhi airport by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The Delhi airport is the second airport in the country to get women marshals — Mumbai airport was the first to do so.
A trained commando, Tomar had gone against the wishes of her family to join the CISF and had become one of first the handpicked woman commandos. Now engaged, she recalls how she had applied for a position in 2015 without informing her family members. She said she had to pay money and gift sweets to the postman to ensure none of the official communications from the CISF land up at her home.
“For three months, I underwent
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my training at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, while my parents believed that I was in Delhi, completing my MSc,” Tomar said.
Armed with an INSAS Rifle and a 9mm pistol in her holster, she says her wedding is scheduled for November. “The force has made me fearless and confident. I will not leave my job at any cost even after marriage.”
Handpicked from among 3,300 women after their basic training, Tomar and the 15 other women are currently undergoing a specialised six-week training programme in Delhi.
Sub-inspector Raghubir Singh, who is training them, said, “We have prepared a special course for them. This includes a counter-terrorism conversion course, training in Krav Maga and hostage and room intervention... These women will specialise in neutralising the enemy within seconds.”
Tomar, however, is not the only one among the 16 women who had to deal with hardships to get into the force and prove their abilities.
Bhavna Sagar from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh claimed her father had slapped her when had she sought his consent to apply in the armed forces.
“But I think it was his slap that made me a commando today. When he had turned hostile, I had become more determined to achieve my goal,” Sagar said.
The women are trained in firing a wide range of weapons — from Glock pistols to AK-47 and MP5 rifles and 9mm pistols.