COPS FOR THE KILLING
The killing of 75 security personnel by Maoists in Dantewada district of Chattisgarh on April 6, 2010 has whipped up waves of shock and anger amongst a large number of people in the country. Though all the politicians have not closed ranks in dealing with the Maoist menace, which the Prime Minter has rightly called the biggest challenge facing the country on the internal security front, it is highly encouraging to note that this incident has caused the largest opposition party at the centre to pledge full support and cooperation to the government in dealing with the Naxals ruthlessly.
This was the third major incident of Naxal violence which occurred recently in the country. Only two days prior to this incident i.e. April 4, 2010: Maoists triggered a landmine blast, killing 11 personnel of the elite anti-naxal force Special Operations Group (SOG) in Koraput district of Orrisa. On Feb 15, 2010: 24 personnel of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) were killed when the Maoists attacked their camp in Silda in West Midnapore district of West Bengal.
We are losing too many police personnel every year while dealing with insurgents, terrorists and other criminals. According to data compiled by the Intelligence Bureau, policing took a toll of as many as 21,428 lives of police personnel during the period 1961-62 to 1999-2000. During a nine-year period i.e. 1991-92 to 1999-2000, as many as 9389 police personnel lost their lives and during the eight years of the present decade (up to 2008), 6898 police personnel died in line of duty.
This is a very heavy toll. No police force anywhere else in the world has paid such heavy price. Even in the United States of America, where the violence levels during police-citizen encounters are quite high, the number of police casualties in line of duty has not been that high. The total number of law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty during the seventies in that country was 1,143 officers. The number slain during the eighties was only 801, but the number during the second half of the last decade (1996-2000) was 845. The USA, of course, has not faced the type of insurgency that we have countenanced; but what about some other countries that have faced violence over many years? Ireland was one of the most violent spots in Europe for a long time.. However, only 302 Royal Armed Constabulary officers and men lost their lives over the 30 year period of violence. In Britain, till the eighties, only 220 police officers are reported to have been killed in line of duty since the Metropolitan Police Force was founded in 1829.
Such comparisons of police fatalities, of course, are not very relevant. The law and order situation differs from country to country, as does the system and quality of governance. However, when a country keeps on losing such a large of its police personnel in line of duty every year as we have been doing, it does raise a few questions and concerns.
The first concern is about the training of police personnel. While a certain element of risk is inherent in a policeman’s job, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the police personnel sent on hazardous duties are suitably equipped and fully trained to deal effectively with situations which they may encounter on such assignments. The very fact that almost seventy five men of a seasoned para military force that has been fighting insurgency in different parts of the country for so long become “sitting ducks” to be killed by the Maoists does not speak very highly about the state of training or preparedness of the men of 62 CRPF Battalion. While a review of training programmes must lead to more intensive training in field craft and tactics to those posted in such areas, it must simultaneously stress the need to develop a high degree of self protection ability and awareness in police personnel. The ability to smell danger and live wire alertness in responding to it is one of the essential conditions to survive and succeed in jungle warfare situations and this is what the majority of police personnel lack.
The central government has been increasingly deploying the para-military forces in insurgency affected areas. This has resulted in enormous expansion of these forces in the country. For example, the CRPF had 201 battalions amounting to a total strength of about 2.5 lakhs on 1.1.2008. Most of the expansion has occurred very rapidly during the last few years. Expansion when and where needed must be done, but enlargement of numbers proves futile if it is at the cost of training and discipline of the force. ‘Area domination’ need not necessarily result from deploying a large number of police personnel in that area; a small force can do the job equally well provided it is equipped, trained and motivated to do so.
However much the government or the police leadership may deny, every incident of Dantewada type does dent the morale of the police force engaged in such areas. What is worse, it emboldens the enemy to indulge in greater violence; something that has repeatedly been seen in the recent history of Maoist violence.
Its time we put a very heavy price on the head of a policeman. The death of a policeman at the hands of a criminal is much more than the sum of resources invested in his recruitment, training and maintenance. A policeman is a symbol of law and state authority and when he dies at the hands of a criminal or an insurgent, a part of our system of rule of law, as opposed to the rule of violence, dies with him. Every death of a policeman in such situations leads to the erosion of state authority and that is what Maoists have been trying to do. The Dantewala incident of April 6 should never be allowed to happen again if the Maoists have to be defeated.
