“Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” - Global Coalition to Protect ...

The recruitment process
The national law does not contain any age-related criteria for recruitment of civilians
as SPOs. 396 The Dantewada police superintendent told Human Rights Watch that the
Chhattisgarh police followed three appointment criteria: “Applicants should be
above age 18, should volunteer to be an SPO, and should be a victim of Naxal
violence.” 397
However, it is obvious that no special care was taken to ensure that all applicants
are indeed at least age 18. SPOs explained that the application procedure was
simple and does not involve a stringent verification of age:
To apply to become an SPO, we need to go to the police station and
ask for forms and fill out the forms. In the form, they ask for our name,
father’s name, age, photo, and village name. The form also asks us
whether we were sangam [village-level Naxalite association] members
in our village…. The police tell us that anyone who has passed fifth
class can become SPOs but we know that even people who have not
studied at all can become SPOs. They [police] also tell us that only
people who are 18 years can become SPOs but they take people who
are younger also—it’s only approximate and based on their
assessment. When applying, we need someone [from our village] to
introduce us to prove who we are, from where we are. If we are
educated, then we can show our certificate. If we have not studied,
then we can call people from our village who will vouch for us—like
sarpanch [village official] or patel [village headman]. So they take
people who have not studied also. 398
Even though age documentation is difficult to procure, it was found that in some
cases police failed to even inquire whether applicants were at least age 18. A former
396 Police Act, 1861. Chhattisgarh state now has a new law, Chhattisgarh Police Act, 2007. SP Sharma stated that no new
SPOs were recruited since March 2006 and therefore at the time SPOs were recruited, the only law that was applicable is the
Police Act, 1861.
397 Human Rights Watch interview with Rahul Sharma, first interview, December 10, 2007.
398 Human Rights Watch group interview with Irram Seethamma, Telam Suresh, and Mohin Patel (pseudonyms), SPOs, other
details withheld.
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