Very few know that a women branch in Rani Jhansi Regiment was established under Bela Mukherjee as its Secretary when Jhansi Rani Regiment was raised. She played Pivotal role along with Capt. Lakshmi Sehegal when women were being recruited.
She was tasked with role in Publicity, Recruitment, Collection of Fund and Materials.
Women answered the call to fight for Indian Independence and joined the force. The unit was raised in July 1943 with volunteers from the expatriate Indian population in Southeast Asia.The unit was named the "Rani Jhansi Regiment" after Rani Lakshmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi, a renowned Indian queen and freedom fighter.
The women wore khaki uniform like the men. It was found that the ordinary Lee-Enfield 303 rifle was rather too big for them (most of the women belonged to South India), so it was arranged to obtain either the Ross pattern (Canadian) or the Dutch type of rifle, as was used in Indonesia. These were lighter and shorter but these had one disadvantage—the bayonet could not be fixed on many of these types of rifles; so instead of bayonets they carried short swords.
