Women to be recruited in military police crop, says Def Min terming the decision as 'historic'
New Delhi, Jan 18: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday said the government has taken a "historic" decision to induct women in the military police with an aim to enhance their representation in the armed forces.
Women will be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20 per cent of total Corps of Military Police, the official handle of the defence minister tweeted.
Their role would range from probing rape and molestation cases to assisting the Army wherever required.
"To improve representation of women in our armed forces Smt @nsitharaman takes a historic decision to induct women for the first time in PBOR (Personnel Below Officer Rank) role in Corps of Military Police
"The women will be inducted in graded manner to eventually comprise 20% of total Corps of Military Police," the handle tweeted.
Last year, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the process to allow women in combat role, currently an exclusive domain of men, was moving fast and initially women will be recruited for positions in military police.
Accordingly, the Army chalked out induction of approximately 800 women in military police with a yearly intake of 52 personnel per year.
Currently, women are allowed in select areas such as medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the Army.
The role of the military police includes policing cantonments and Army establishments, preventing breach of rules and regulations by soldiers, maintaining movement of soldiers as well as logistics during peace and war, handling prisoners of war and extending aid to civil police whenever required.
Earlier this month, in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State in the Defence Ministry Subhash Bhamre the Army has 3.80 per cent of its workforce as women, the Air Force has 13.09 per cent and the Navy six per cent.
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ED raids Karnataka Cong MLA Satish Krishna Sail, others in illegal iron ore export case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday raided premises linked to Karnataka Congress MLA Satish Krishna Sail and some others as part of a money laundering investigation against the legislator in a case related to alleged illegal export of iron ore, official sources said.
At least 15 premises in Karnataka, Goa and Mumbai are being searched under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
Sail is a Congress MLA representing the Karwar assembly constituency in Uttara Kannada district.
Sail, according to the sources, has been accused of exporting illegally mined iron ore which was seized by forest officials at Belekeri port in Karwar, Karnataka.
This caused "loss" to government exchequer for an amount of about Rs 38 crore but the actual value of illegally exported ore is worth hundreds of crores of rupees, the sources said.
The case originated from a 2010 probe by the Karnataka Lokayukta, which discovered about eight lakh tons of illegally transported iron ore from Bellary to Belekeri port.
The Karnataka High Court last year had ordered the suspension of the seven-year prison sentence of the MLA in this case.
A special court had previously found Sail and others guilty in multiple cases related to the illegal export of iron ore from the Belekeri port.
