SURAT: Around 50 Jain sadhvis (female monks) in a two-day training have learnt to wield the art of stick to protect themselves from harassers at Nanpura here on Monday. Women volunteers of Rashtra Sevika Samiti held one-hour training sessions for them on two days. There is a proposal to extend the training to seven days considering the demand from the sadhavis and others.Training camp organizers claimed that the sadhvis had requested for training after a sadhvi was recently harassed at Gopipura Jain Upasharay by a man, who was later caught by police. "The sadhvis had expressed the wish to be trained in self-defence as they are vulnerable to harassment at different time and places. They wanted to learn some techniques by which they can defend themselves against a harasser until help arrives," said Ashit Gandhi, a trustee of Jivan Kalyan Trust that organized the training."Incidents of harassment with Jain sadhvis take place often on roads or at other locations during odd hours. They wanted us to arrange the training to empower them to deal with such situations," Gandhi added." The training is to make sadhvis mentally and physically strong to deal with any unexpected situation. Many times they are alone and this training can prove helpful to them. They had approached us after which we started the training sessions for them," said Dr Jilna Patel, city in-charge of Rashtra Sevika Samiti.One of the Sadhvis explained, "When it is question about protecting one's modesty and character, self-defence is allowed." "It is a good initiative by the organizers. Everyone should know basic self-defence techniques. They can help others in time of need," city police commissioner Satish Sharma said.

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