Just when the state and central government authorities admitted to intelligence and systematic failure, the demand for police reforms has increased.
Three former officers had set up task forces to concentrate on armed and unarmed combat. However the units were disbanded after the tenure of the three officers. Neeta Kolhatkar talks to the trio
Just when the state and central government authorities admitted to intelligence and systematic failure, the demand for police reforms has increased. Even former police officials of Mumbai and Maharashtra force have said that a Special Task Force is the need of the hour.
However prior to this, three former top police officers Arvind Inamdar, AA Khan and MN Singh had set up independent units to train handpicked policemen across various levels to deal with gang war and terror cases.
The first was an SOS group formed by former commissioner of police Arvind Inamdar in 1989. In 1990, AA Khan set up the first Anti-Terrorist Squad and helped bust terror outfits in two places -Mumbai and Gujarat. Later, after the 2001 Parliament attack in Delhi, MN Singh submitted a proposal for a Quick Response Team on the lines of National Security Guards.
The SOS group consisted of 50 police officers across various levels from constables to police inspectors, who were given unarmed training. These were the best of young police who were handpicked. “Yes, I ensured that they were given rope sliding, rope climbing, house scaling, firing and karate training,” says Inamdar. “The concept was to impart training on the lines given to the NSG, so that when our police are faced with emergency situations, they would be prepared. The basic criterion was fitness,” adds Inamdar.
In 1990, AA Khan had envisaged that the gang rivalry will be replaced by more terror activities. His team of 25 police had encountered near-death experiences of busting two hideouts of Khalistani terrorists in Dahisar, Khindipada and Gujarat. The ATS unit was formed for the networking and creating a track record of the police.
“We formed such a unit with officers who had excellent ground information and sources. This helped build the confidence of general public. They were physically fit and had a record of being courageous,” says Khan. He adds, “Of these some specialised in interrogation required for terror incidents.”
When Inamdar was made the director general his SOS was disbanded, while in 1993 when Khan moved out of Mumbai, his ATS too got disbanded, although some of the officers from his group were roped in for the new ATS.
MN Singh was the last of the officers who gave a similar proposal to the Maharashtra government to set up a Quick Response Team in place. This was to be set up along the lines of the NSG. Singh says they had got allocation from the government to set up the force and an officer, too, was sent to Delhi to study the NSG material and training modules.
“We had given them vehicles wireless equipment and they were trained to take on any emergency situation. In case there weren’t any situations to tackle, they were to lapse into a daily rigorous training module,” says Singh.
However all three officers question why these efforts weren’t taken seriously by following officers to ensure these units remained. “The fact is not only politicians even our officers are to be held responsible for the disbanding of these teams. These police were not to be used for Ganpati bandobast as these routine jobs kill their special skills,” asserts Singh.
Khan adds that those senior officers who disbanded these outfits would not understand its importance as many of them have been desk-bound officers. “Many of them have not even fired in a decade. The instinct to continue with such outfits requires a field sense that only commissioners and directors should posses.”
Inamdar says that even with gangsters increasingly using arms, the basic training the academies should have introduced is that of firearms. “The terrorists and gangsters have been using arms increasingly —weapons and explosives — we still have not introduced training on these lines in our academies. It is still restricted to only lectures,” alleges Inamdar.
All three feel this is the time to introduce a specialised anti-terror squad that can tackle extreme situations at any given point of time.
k_neeta@dnaindia.net 
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