Disarming SPOs a temporary setback on anti-Maoist operations: Chhattisgarh police

Chhattisgarh police will be soon disarming Special Police Officers in the state as per the Supreme Court directions which has termed involvement of tribals in anti-Naxal operations as "unconstitutional".

"We will be soon disarming them. There is no scope of not doing it," Chhatisgarh police chief Vishwaranjan told PTI today.

While admitting that non-involvement of SPOs may serve as a setback to the anti-Maoist operations, the state police chief, who is the senior-most police officer in the country, said, "The setback will be temporary and we will try to overcome it."

The Supreme Court while ordering disbanding of SPOs in Chhattisgarh, had termed as "unconstitutional" the practice of deploying SPOs in campaigns like Salwa Judum launched by the Chhattisgarh government to fight Maoists.

It had criticised support and funding of SPOs in campaigns like 'Koya Commandos' and Salwa Judum, an armed civilian vigilante group whose numbers have gone up from 3,000 to 6,500 within a year.

The SPOs were being provided arms training and were used to help the state police and para-military forces in entering the dense jungles of Bastar, a hotbed of Naxal activities.

They were also being paid a monthly emolument of Rs2,000 by the state government.