Greyhounds are a trained police force, trained to take on the Naxalites. But in Chhattisgarh, they have set up this vigilante group, which has minors and SPOs to fight the Naxalites. This is objectionable. These are people who are the most vulnerable. They don't have training. There is this one case where the SPO killed his own brother. So they are dividing families. And that is what we are objecting to.

If it was a regular police force trained to deal with the situation, it's a different matter.

But SPOs get only one to three months training. That entails nothing. It entails that they can be indisciplined and they can harass people. They are scared of retaliation, so they are more and more regressive. But having said that, this whole security-centric approach to Naxalism is not working. We need to look at it as a political and socio-economic problem. You actually need to look at the root cause.

Violence has dramatically escalated and the situation, as you mentioned, is dire. But what is the way forward? How do you plan to combat the situation?

We are combating the situation through the courts. We filed a case in the Supreme Court against the Salwa Judum and against the government support to an illegal vigilante organisation, arming of minors and asking for compensation to victims. That case is going on in the Supreme Court.

What is your recommendation?

Our recommendation is that Salwa Judum and the SPOs be disbanded immediately. Those who want to stay in camps should be entitled to stay, but the vast majority who want to go back should be allowed to go. Normal policing should be strengthened, not the kind of policing that's happening in Chhattisgarh.

People should be rehabilitated and compensated. All manner of people picked up under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act should be released.

In recent years, a lot of activists have started to re-examine the notion of violence. For example, writer Arundhati Roy in a recent interview said when people decide to take up violence because every other option has ended in despair, should we condemn them? What is your view?

One needs to understand this issue beyond just a security-centric issue. Like any social movement, whether it is the Shiv Sena or the Naxalites. I am a sociologist not a police person. I don’t think of it in terms of criminals. I am interested in knowing why people join such movements.

I don't think it is a question about defending the Naxalite violence or condemning it. We need to stop looking at Naxalism as a security-centric issue.

I have criticised the violence committed by the Naxals as well as the Salwa Judum. But, I think, one needs to study this issue further. It is not a black and white issue.

Image: A child watches Special Police Officers outside her hut in a village in Dantewada district.

Also read: Naxalites: India's ticking time bomb

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