Author: Sarita Kaushik, Gadchiroli/Nagpur
(sarita.kaushik@hindustantimes.com)
Publication: Hindustan Times
Dated: September 3, 2007
Introduction: Drawn from state's tribal hinterland,
a group of young men are fighting to keep Naxalite threat from undermining
polity of a modernising nation
07.07.07. The date is burned into Sudhakar
and Kamlesh Arka's memory. That's not because of the perfect symmetry of the
numbers. It was the day their father, Ashok, a 45-year-old forest guard, was
butchered by Naxalites. The killers left a note on his body saying why they
had killed him.
They had killed him secondly because the family
had let out a room in their modest home in the small village of Mapalli, 170
km south of Gadchiroli town, to a police officer. They had done it chiefly
because two years ago, 22-year-old Kamlesh had joined the C-60.
Sudhakar, a wiry, dark 19-year-old with little
education and an insecure future, wants to follow in his elder brother's footsteps.
The mystique of the C-60 is sucking him in too - as it does many other young
men of this backward area.
The C-60 is a commando force drawn from the
tribal hinterland to combat Naxalites. It is an elite group, tough, skilled,
trained and fearless. It was formed in Gadchiroli by K P Raghuvanshi - now
ATS chief in Mumbai - in 1991. It was later withdrawn. Started again in 1999,
this force of tribal young men inspired as much by a sense of mission or -
as in the case of the Arka brothers personal loss and vendetta.
As India grows at a dizzying pace at a rate
second only to China's - and marches on its way to altering the geopolitical
map of the world, incidents of Naxalite terror have threatened to undermine
the polity and stability of the country.
"They don't do routine policing,"
said Pankaj Gupta, Additional Director General of Police, Anti-Naxal Operations.
"Their job involves guerrilla warfare against Naxalites in the forests
based on intelligence."
It takes a lot of training. Ashok Lande, who
is in charge of the crack force, said: "Their tests are more stringent
than that of a policeman's. The selection scales test their sharpness, commitment
to the cause, knowledge of the Naxalite movement, information of topography
and mental strength."
The last must count for a lot because for
candidates found "physically and mentally fit", the requirement
of having passed the Class 12 examination is relaxed; those who have only
been educated till Class 8 have made the cut.
The youngsters of the C 60 force are inspired
by a sense of mission or in some cases by personal loss and vendetta They
don't do routine training; their job in volves guerrilla warfare against Naxalites.
Once in, apart from the routine cop training,
the C-60 force is trained in special colleges of guerilla warfare. "They
come for a constant assessment," said Rajesh Pradhan, Superintendent
of Police, Gadchiroli. "Anyone who falls below par has to go. Personal
sacrifices of the force are very high." Once recruited, a C-60 member's
family is moved to the security of the police headquarters. It's necessary.
When Diwakar (name changed) joined, his ageing parents refused to leave their
village. Soon, their house was set on fire. They hardly visit their homes,
going with heavy police protection to ceremonies like weddings.
"My village is so close but I have not
gone for a visit in the past 10 years. The only times I have entered is as
part of the C-60 force conducting operations," said Suresh (name changed).
Still, not many of the 300-strong force leave once they are on board. They
have to when they die. C-60 may be an elite force, but the ultimate sacrifice
of death while on duty is more common here than its members would want to
think of.
