Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on 15 December said there are women officers engaged in exercises like mining and de-mining operations and also manning the air defence system, but cited difficulties in assigning them frontline combat roles.

He said that in frontline combat there are risks of officers getting killed. In combat, when body bags come back, our country is not ready to see that.

The army chief added, we have women officers as engineers, they are doing mining and demining work. In air defence, they are manning our weapon systems. But we have not put women in frontline combat because what we are engaged in right now is a proxy war, like in Kashmir.

He cited logistical reasons also behind not posting women on frontlines. The Army Chief questioned whether a women officer with commanding responsibilities can stay away from her post for long?