Op Sindoor: How 7 BSF women defended 2 posts for 3 days and nights

It was literally a baptism by fire for young women Border Security Force (BSF) personnel deployed at the international border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor sector during Operation Sindoor.Led by Assistant Commandant Neha Bhandari who joined the force barely three years ago, half a dozen women BSF personnel fiercely defended two forward posts in Akhnoor with sustained and heavy retaliatory fire on the Pakistani posts in adjoining Sialkot for three days and three nights.The women ‘Seema Praharis’ stopped only when the extensive damage caused by their flat trajectory/area weapons forced the enemy to step back and abandon their forward locations.Bhandari seized the “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to engage the enemy forces in active combat — arguably becoming the first woman officer to do so since the Army is yet to utilise its women personnel for such roles.Manjit Kour and Malkit Kour from Punjab, with 17 years of service, were the experienced hands holding fort at the two forward posts — supercompact structures comprising an observation post and bunker.For Swapna Rath and Shampa Basak from West Bengal, Sumi Xess from Jharkhand and Jyoti Banian from Odisha, who joined in 2023, the opportunity to put their training and resilience to test in a near war-like situation had presented itself soon enough. medium nocaptionhttps://youtu.be/2QI-7s8UVHg?si=GSt7xBIEJbUdncf_There was no way that they or their commanding officer Neha — both of whose parents had served in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), her mother still in service — were letting go of the opportunity.The male seniors, mindful of the challenge, did offer the women an option to withdraw from active combat duties as Operation Sindoor unfolded and triggered firing and shelling from Pakistan on Indian positions along the international border and Line of Control (LoC). “I obviously declined. When we had trained as soldiers, our training regimen and resources were the same as our male counterparts. Operation Sindoor presented us with a rare, early-career opportunity to prove that we are equally capable as men to take on the enemy,” Neha told TOI.“Once we insisted on staying put, our seniors motivated us to give our best,” she said.BSF DIG, Sunderbani sector Varindar Dutta, to whom Neha reports, said she rose to the occasion, commanding not only the BSF troops but also the Army reinforcements that came in.“She independently took decisions on the weapons and artillery to be deployed; this is the first instance of a woman officer commanding in active combat; even the Army is still utilising women personnel for non-combat roles like Signals etc,” said Dutta.“Undeterred by the heavy shelling from Pakistani posts barely 150 metres away, Asst Comdt Neha ensured that our forces retaliated with full and fierce firepower. The enemy posts suffered immense damage; Pakistani Rangers were forced to shut them down,” said Dutta.Neha shared that the six women manning the two BSF forward locations in Akhnoor did not leave the posts even once between May 7 and 10. They took turns to fire until Pakistani forward locations, complete with their surveillance equipment, were damaged enough for the Rangers to call it quits.