In a blow to both the Chhattisgarh government and the Centre, the Supreme Court has declared as illegal and unconstitutional the deployment of tribal youths as Special Police Officers - either as 'Koya Commandos', Salwa Judum or any other force - in the fight against the Maoist insurgency and ordered their immediate disarming.
The ruling - issued on Tuesday by Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar on the writ petition filed by social anthropologist Prof. Nandini Sundar and others - strongly indicted the State for violating Constitutional principles in arming youth who had passed only fifth standard and conferring on them the powers of police.
The Bench said “the State of Chhattisgarh shall forthwith make every effort to recall all firearms issued to any of the SPOs, whether current or former, along with any and all accoutrements and accessories issued to use such firearms. The word firearm as used shall include any and all forms of guns, rifles, launchers etc., of whatever calibre.”
Writing the order, Justice Reddy directed the State of Chhattisgarh to immediately 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/Naxalite activities in the State of Chhattisgarh.
The court directed the Centre and the State of Chhattisgarh to provide appropriate security forthwith, and undertake such measures “as are necessary, and within bounds of constitutional permissibility, to protect the lives of those who had been employed as SPOs previously, or who had been given any initial orders of selection or appointment, from any and all forces, including but not limited to Maoists/Naxalites.”
The Bench made it clear that the State of Chhattisgarh should take all appropriate measures to prevent the operation of any group, including but not limited to Salwa Judum and Koya commandos, that in any manner or form seek to take law into private hands, act unconstitutionally or otherwise violate the human rights of any person.
The Bench said “the measures to be taken by the State of Chhattisgarh shall include, but not be limited to, investigation of all previously inappropriately or incompletely investigated instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum, or those popularly known as Koya Commandos.”
The Bench held that the policy of the State violated the rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of those being employed as SPOs in Chattisgarh and used in counter-insurgency measures against Maoists/Naxalites, as well as of citizens living in those areas.
The Bench was of the view that effectiveness of the force "ought not to be, and cannot be, the sole yardstick to judge constitutional permissibility. Whether SPOs have been effective against Maoist/Naxalite activities in Chhattisgarh would seem to be a dubious, if not a debunked, proposition given the state of affairs in Chattisgarh. Even if we were to grant, for the sake of argument, that indeed the SPOs were effective against Maoists/Naxalites, the doubtful gains are accruing only by the incurrence of a massive loss of fealty to the Constitution, and damage to the social order."
The Bench said "The primordial value is that it is the responsibility of every organ of the State to function within the four corners of constitutional responsibility. That is the ultimate rule of law.”
It said “Indeed, we recognise that the State faces many serious problems on account of Maoist/Naxalite violence.Notwithstanding the fact that there may be social and economic circumstances, and certain policies followed by the State itself, leading to emergence of extremist violence, we cannot condone it.”
The Judges said “The attempt to overthrow the State itself and kill its agents, and perpetrate violence against innocent civilians, is destructive of an ordered life. The State necessarily has the obligation, moral and constitutional, to combat such extremism, and provide security to the people of the country.”
Feature: Salwa Judum's war on the people
Keywords: Salwa Judum, Koya Commandos, Dantewada, anti-Maoist operation
This was expected much earlier. The apex court had expressed concern over arming of the innocent tribals on earlier occasions too, but this is the real hammering. You can not play with your own people in the name of security and protection. The salwa judam was originally established as a counter terrorist outfit to fight the ultras. This is grotesque in conception and implementation.
All the state Governments,particularly Chhatisgarh and Orissa must disarm the SPOs with immediate effect while honouring the verdict of the apex court of the land.
No matter how the state agencies continue to behave in trigger happy manner in repressing even democratic forms of peoples' protests elsewhere,the salva judum has been an unique way of arming poor adivasis to openly promote internecine wars; the judgment is bound to raise new hope that other forms of state repressions institutionalized through 'Operation Green Hunt' and seeking legitimacy in the name of curbing extremism, could be effectively put under check. Citizens' perseverance alone could perhaps end in exemplary judicial intervention like this.
Salva judum was a force that undermined whatever morality (or pretense) we had as a democracy. This is a historical verdict.
Thank God thaw has broken and Supreme Court has ruled against so called private army-Salwa Judum and appointments of special police officers from amongst poor tribals of Chhatishgarh by chief minister Raman Singh for anti-naxal activities! Such ruling of SC has vindicated the stand of people of country and law of land. Instead of launching development to end naxalism different governments in the country was trying to eliminate naxalites, who were fighting against state terror,capitalists,corporates etc to uproot tribals and poor from their homeland. In Bihar, now Nitis government has constituted a kind of salwa judum drive and had recruited a large number of poor as SPOs to fight naxalism. Nitish, who was initially against deploying force to curb naxalism by launching heavy development activities , has recruited SPOs to fight naxalism in naxal -infested areas.Now the centre must think new development strategy in light of SC ruling, curbing naxals.blog-www.kksingh1.blogspot.com
This is such a harsh reminder to us about the real state of India's underbelly. Where is India 'shining'? Certainly not in Chattisgarh.
Arming locals is a very dangerous trend. Things are got to go out of hand in the long run. It is not possible to control general public like an army of soldiers. Best examples are Afghanistan and Pakistan where the people armed by Gouvernment have turned their guns towards Government and other innocent people. Orders given by honourable SC are welcome and must be implemented with immediate effect. At the same time, central Government must bring in a legislation to prevent such adventures by states.
If the state government provides the children and adolescents with books instead of guns, then the naxalite problem will definitely mitigate in long term, if not completely curbed. The policies made by the state to tackle this menace are superficial in a way that they are not reaching to the root cause of the problem, which very much lies in lack of education.
It took so much time to declare it illegal. When our MLAs and MPs do not know the Constitution such things are bound to happen. All candidates for elections should first pass an exam on the Constitution of the country. The CMs of states should pass a special exam on the Indian constitution.It is high time we did this to ensure law and order in this country.
SC verdict on salwa judam, koyas commandos may be a huge blow for Chattisgarh and Central government but it deserves a huge round of applause both from constitutional and practical point of view. Arming tribal people against naxalite for any well deserved and argued reason cannot be justified from any constitutional point of view. Also there occurs a chance that salwa judam if not properly reigned,managed has great potential to add another grievance to India's internal problems . It may be extreme and a bit unpractical but parallel comparison can be drawn it with Taliban where also mostly tribal local people were armed to fight against soviet but after war was over , it turned against it's own master. No matter how benevolent your aim is, it has to be achieved by benevolent and justifiable methods . Salwa judam can perhaps solve Maoist threat and influence for a period of time but it's only temporary solution but in long run, it can itself prove more disastrous for India.
Kudos! The Supreme court has taken the most appropriate step in tackling the menace of mindless violence, pitting brother against brother, and creating an atmosphere of violence, fear and uncertainty. This has been feeding into the progressive privatization of state resources, and the Afghanification of our country.
Those of us who always knew that the Salwar Judum was as criminal as corruption or most activities of politicians and other rulers of India will be gratified to learn that it is now also illegal.
Finally the apex court has given its verdict on salva judum, which is nothing but governments both at the state and centre trying to obliterate the tribes by pitting them one against the other. I am no supporter of violence or naxalites, but pitting people against people is not the solution. Solution lies in correcting historical anomalies. Solution lies in empowerment. Solution lies in granting people equal opportunities and fair treatment.
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