Shillong, April 6: Assam Rifles witnessed a historic moment today when 100 women soldiers were formally inducted into the paramilitary force.

The women soldiers were a part of the 212 recruits of the Assam Rifles, which anthropologist Verrier Elwin had once described as “friends of the hill people”.

The first batch of women soldiers was inducted in the presence of Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju, who took the salute at the passing-out parade of the recruits at the Assam Rifles Training Centre & School, Shokhuvi, in Nagaland.

Assam Rifles' public relations officer Lt Col Rahul Josan said the women soldiers would be posted to various battalions of the force and also be used in search operations, frisking and interrogating female accused, dispersing female mob/crowd and tackling agitation involving women protesters. They would also be employed at mobile check-posts and road opening operations apart from cordon-and- search operations, he said.

“Relief and rescue operations during communal tension and natural calamities, dealing with women protesters to avoid violation of human rights and projecting a clean image of the force would be the other important tasks of the women personnel,” Col Josan said.

Breaking the male bastion in the 181-year-old paramilitary force, he said, Assam Rifles had recruited the first batch of 127 women personnel from recruitment rallies conducted across the country. The recruits had reported for training at Assam Rifles Training Centre & School, Dimapur, in March 2015.

Col Josan said three Indian army women officers had been specially posted to the Assam Rifles Training Centre & School in March 2014 to plan, raise and institutionalise a separate training company for women recruits at the centre.

“This maiden initiative of recruiting women as soldiers, who in the times to come shall form an integral part of the force, is certainly a noble endeavour by the Assam Rifles towards women’s empowerment,” he added.

The Lushai Training Company, of which the women recruits were a part, was formally raised on April 15, 2015. The name of the company is based upon the significance of Lushai Hills in the history of Assam Rifles.

In his address, Rijiju said women were no less than men and progressively contributing in all fields, leading to the development of the nation.