The Supreme Court order striking down the appointment of special police officers (SPOs) will be a setback to operations against the Naxals in Chhattisgarh, state police chief Vishwa Ranjan said today. The 5,000-odd SPOs would be relieved of their weapons, but they would continue to work with the police, the DGP said.
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the appointment of SPOs violated the Constitution?s Articles 14 and 21, and ordered the Chhattisgarh government to immediately disarm them and ?cease and desist from using SPOs in any manner or form in any activities directly or indirectly aimed at controlling, countering, mitigating or otherwise eliminating Maoist/Naxal activities?.
?I have not yet seen a copy of the judgment, but from what we have understood, the honourable court has ruled against arming them and using them in operations. We will stop that forthwith. But they will continue to work with us. They won?t be out of jobs suddenly,? Vishwa Ranjan told The Indian Express.
SPOs are recruited on a monthly salary of about Rs 3,000 for a year on contracts that are extended. The SPOs, the DGP said, were never a part of Salwa Judum, the anti-Naxal militia armed and supported by the state. ?About two-thirds of them were manning rehabilitation camps and only one-third were helping the police in operations,? the DGP said.
Vishwa Ranjan said the police would now need additional forces to protect the SPOs, since their camps were Naxal targets. Asked if the SPOs could be absorbed in the regular force, the DGP said, ?Some of them could be, provided they meet the standard eligibility criteria. We have in any case been absorbing about 10 per cent of them into the force every year.
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