'DNA' Investigation: SPOs in Bihar, Jharkhand primed to rebel against state

Special police officers (SPO), appointed by the state police in Jharkhand and Bihar to fight Maoists, are in hiding.

After a recent Supreme Court judgment took away their arms and salaries, they have been left them with only two options: either form own groups or switch loyalties to save themselves from Maoists.

On July 5, the apex court banned SPOs in Chhattisgarh and directed the Centre to stop funding, directly or indirectly, the recruitment of SPOs for counterinsurgency operations.

Prior to the apex court judgment, the Union government (home ministry) gave the SPOs salaries, through the state police, from the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) funds.

Now, it has stopped releasing funds and the state police have taken back all arms, which were given to them unofficially.

But the judgment and subsequent actions have left about 10,000 SPOs (Jharkhand and Bihar) in a tight spot. The state police mostly appointed former Maoists as SPOs. Now, the Maoists are baying for their blood as they have killed or have helped the state police in killing several rebels and they do not have arms to fight back or the backing of the state.

DNA met several SPOs in Jharkhand who were directly involved in
anti-Maoist operations. “If we don’t get proper protection and opportunity, we won’t have any option but to start our own group to save our lives,” Sanjay Baiga from Ranchi district, Jharkhand, said.   

Baiga (name changed) became an SPO in 2009. He and his team of SPOs have gunned down several Naxalites and their sympathisers in the state. The Naxalites are on a constant lookout for us, he said. “We feel so unsafe without our guns. We did not get any salary for the past two months.”

Though the states appointed SPOs and gave them arms, nothing was recorded on paper. The police from Jharkhand and Bihar too denied they had used SPOs in anti-Naxal operations.

But DNA spoke to several SPOs who not only accompanied the police in combat operations but also led from the front, often under duress. A senior police officer did confirm this but expectedly did not want to come on record. “SPOs were given arms because of their familiarity with Naxal-infested areas,” he said.

Another SPO from Kunti district, Jharkhand, said they were given pistols for personal safety. During operations, they got AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons.

In Bihar too the situation is same. But the DGP had admitted that SPOs were working for the state police when Naxalites gunned down two armed SPOs on July 2, 2011, in Munger district, Bihar.
The appointments in both states began in 2009 under the Union home ministry’s Security Related Expenditure plan (SRE). The Centre permitted Bihar and Jharkhand to engage 6,666 and 3,400 SPOs.

An advocate from Munger, who did not want to come on record fearing police harassment, said the judgment has left the SPOs in the lurch. “Every SPO realises that he is on the Naxalite’s hit list,” he said. “They have to either go back [to being Naxalites] or retain arms to protect themselves.”

GS Rath, DGP (Jharkhand), however, denied that SPOs were involved in anti-Naxal operations. “They gave us only information,” he said. “In exchange we gave each SPO an honorarium, either from central or from state funds.” He said it was a part-time job for the SPOs. “They are free to take up any job even while working for us,” he said.

DNA has copy of a fund bill (SRE) for a district in Jharkhand that shows an SPO getting Rs3,000 monthly as “honorarium”.

On the issue of this “honorarium” being stopped for the past two months, Rath said the Centre had not released any funds after the judgment. “Once we get it, we will pay the SPOs,” he said. “But I cannot guarantee a time frame as I do not know when the Centre will clear the funds.”

The 1861 Police Act says SPOs can be appointed. Several state police legislations too have similar provisions. SPOs, according to the rulebook, should supplement normal police administration by acting as informers.