Gadchiroli: Maharashtra suffered its worst naxal attack on Thursday in Gadhciroli. And for the first time, there were 5 women police constables among the dead.
Pusawandi village bid tearful goodbye to its brave daughter. Sunita Kallo, 30, was among the 16 cops killed. A Gond adivasi, Sunita was 19 when she joined the police force, defying the Naxals. For 11 years she was not able to return home, fearing for her own life and her family's.
Says Vijay Kumre, Sunita's brother-in-law: "She had a very tough life, professionally. But she never backed out."
Twenty-nine-year-old Alka Gawde had joined the force nine years ago from the border village of Vadegaon in the heart of Naxal territory.
Mother of a four-year-old when she went out for this operation, she was four months pregnant.
Her father Babu Ram recalls: "She was very brave, very responsible. I never feared anything would happen to her."
Alka's and Sunita's stories are so remarkable not just because they joined a profession that was so risky, but they defied the odds and chose to change the system by becoming a part of it.