Nagpur district will be the first one to get an all-woman battalion of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF). The decision was made by the Maharashtra government with an aim to promote gender equality.
The SRPF was formed on March 6, 1948 as a special armed force of Maharashtra, and is a male-dominated as it does not have an all-woman battalion so far.
Additional Director General of Police (Planning and Coordination) S Jaganathan wrote a letter on March 4 to SRPF’s Additional Director General and its Inspector General (IG), Nagpur Range, pointing out that the force did not have an all-woman battalion.
The state government has directed the force to raise an all-woman battalion at Katol in Nagpur, Jaganathan mentioned in the letter.
“As state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has directed for raising the women’s battalion of SRPF at Katol in Nagpur district, the planning and coordination office of the state police took a decision of raising the battalion,” he said in the letter.
He further directed SRPF’s Nagpur Range IG to find sufficient land near Katol for setting up the battalion’s headquarters and has also directed its Nagpur Range IG to prepare detailed proposal for making necessary changes in the SRPF Act-1951 and send it to the state police.
