LibriumArcana.Games

One Sunday night in July, the Indian army's Capt Megha Razdan was found shot dead at her home in Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The officer had apparently taken her own life, leaving behind a suicide note.

But her father, Arun Kumar Razdan, alleges foul play. He says his daughter was murdered by someone in the army.

"She was very happy and had spent just over two years in the army. She wanted to serve the country,'' he says.

Last year another woman officer, Lt Sushmita Chakravorty, shot herself dead. Her parents accused the army of harassment.

Deterrent

Indian army spokesperson, Col SK Sakhuja, denies the charges and calls them ''accusations of anguished families''.

He says there are systems in place in the army to deal with complaints of sexual harassment, harassment by seniors and other complaints.

He says there is a commanding officer in each unit who is called ''the old man'' - "because he is a caring, understanding and experienced officer and the first person for anyone who is troubled is to go to".

India women soldier
There are only 1,000 women officers in the Indian army

Most of the problems are sorted out at this level, but if a need is felt, other officers can be approached too, says Col Sakhuja.

But such incidents work as a deterrent to young women who are thinking of joining the already short-staffed army.

It also puts a question mark over the army's claim of being a gender sensitive organisation.

Five cases of harassment were filed by women officers against their male counterparts between 2002 and 2006.

India's 1.1 million-strong army has only 1,000 women officers.

The government began hiring women officers just 15 years ago. Until then, women were only allowed into the army's medical corps.

The first batch of 50 women officers was inducted into the force in 1992. A total of 150 officers are inducted every year, initially for a five-year term which can be extended up to 14 years.

Women are assigned to departments like artillery, signals, engineering and intelligence but they are not allowed in close combat duties. And once retired, they are not entitled to a pension.

Howls of protest

Last year, the defence authorities went into damage control after the second-in-command of the Indian army, Lt Gen S Pattabhiraman, said the force did not need women officers.

He was speaking soon after a young female officer had committed suicide in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Gen Pattabhiraman apologised after his statement drew howls of protests from women's rights activists.

Indian troops
Only men can serve in combat roles

The defence authorities tried to play down the statement but, off the record, many officers say employing women in a traditionally male-dominated force creates its own problems.

There are special infrastructural needs to be taken care of, like providing bathrooms and living quarters. More important, there is a need to sensitise the workforce.

Women officers undergo the same 49-week rigorous training received by their male counterparts.

They are also better equipped physically, mentally and emotionally to meet the challenges of the tough army life.

But analysts say one cannot ignore the lower middle-class and sometimes rural background from which most foot soldiers come.

And it is not easy for them to accept women as equals or sometimes even as superiors.

Enemy within

Women in the armed forces also feel that they should be given the option of normal commission in the army where they can serve till they retire and also get a pension.

Capt Pearl Salome, who joined in the early 1990s, says she would have loved to continue working in the army.

She joined the second batch of "non traditional" women officers in 1993 and says the army establishment made sure the women did not feel out of place in a male-dominated force.

''The commanding officer made sure two women officers were posted together, they had separate sleeping quarters. A lot of care, protection and support was given. So, a great deal depends on how you deal with the new environment yourself,'' Capt Salome says.

In the recent times, a demand for combat role for women in the frontline has also come up.

But army sources point out that in the US army too women are kept out of infantry and artillery, in the UK they are not allowed as marine commandos, in infantry or armed corps and the same policy is followed in India.

Former army chief Gen VP Malik says, "We have to consider the social situation in the country too. We cannot be like America and Israel where a woman works with four to five men in a tank or lives in a bunker with them.

"We won't be able to provide privacy to women on the frontline and if she is caught by the enemy can you imagine the kind of behaviour she will have to face?''

But women officers say at the moment it is the enemy within that they are more worried about.