Apex Court verdict on Chhattisgarh's anti-Maoist campaign

The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices B.Sudershan Reddy and Surendra Singh Nijjar, recently ordered the disbanding of the Special Police Officers' force of 4000 armed youth set up by the Chhattisgarh government for counter-insurgency operations. The verdict came on the petition filed by Ms Nandini Sunder and others. Having watched Ms Sunder of the Delhi University-a known sympathiser and apologist of Maoist terrorists-in TV debates, one was deeply appalled by the court accepting her petition as a gospel truth and rejecting the case of Dr Raman Singh-headed State govt as "horror, the horror"!

Excerpts of the judgement that appeared in the press made a terrible reading. References to Joseph Conrad's novella:"Heart of Darkness", to describe the situation on the ground in Chhattisgarh in its fight against Maoist terrorists seemed highly misplaced  and overly dramatised. It appeared that one was not reading a serious judgement on a most menacing crisis that is facing the Indian State in general and the tribal-dominated State of Chhattisgarh, in particular, but accounts of an intellectual  seminar at the India International Centre, dominated by the likes of Arundhati Roy!

Chhattisgarh is one State that is widely acknowledged to be well-governed by a dedicated Chief Minster whose administration is trying its utmost to involve its tribal youth through proper training and motivation to stand up to Maoist extremists with the help and guidance of the security forces. One could understand judicial intervention if there are glaring excesses and human rights violations. But, the apex court order was a blanket ban on the State govt's major innitiative of forming a SPO brigade- a sort of people's force, armed  and trained,  to supplement the security campaign against seditious, anti-national brigands. Thus, the apex court order will be a huge set back to the Raman Singh govt's efforts to mobilise forest-dwellers who know the terrain where the militants operate. It will serve as a morale-booster to these authoritarian tyrants who were reportdly on a backfoot due to the popular hostility against their violent and criminal ways.