Bastar's Danteshwari Fighters: India's first all-women anti-Maoist unit

The first all-women anti-Maoist commando unit, Danteshwari Fighters, a team of 97 is standing strong in Bastar.

Danteshwari Fighters that started as a unit of 16, has now come so far that they are here to compete with men. Two of the women commandos from the unit have been awarded with out-of-turn promotion for killing two Maoists, as per the report by The Times Of India.

These Danteshwari 'Ladake' are volunteers who are ready to stand strong and take a bullet to save their people.

Earlier Danteshwari commandos would help other security forces to carry out anti Naxalite operations, however, now they do it on their own as a unit. This year, they plan to organise cultural events where chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai will be the guest.

Sunaina Patel, head constable of Danteshwari fighters would go on operation even during her pregnancy period, according to TOI.

Sunaina along with Reshma Kashyap had killed two of the Maoists in Jallampal. She told TOI that, "It was like stepping into the den of death, but we went in and completed the mission."

"Once I was trapped in a Maoist ambush. it was a close one, but I narrowly escaped. when we are on a mission, we don't think of anything else," she added.

She further said that Danteshwari fighter are deployed as road opening parties for projects on Kamarguda-Jagargunda route and provide security to the construction team, she told TOI.

It also reported that these commandos are trained in medicine who then go to villages to check up on peoples health and give medication.