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When we go to give the filled-out forms they tell us to come for training.
They don’t tell us anything else—nothing about SPOs’ powers,
functions, and duties. 405
Everyone who applies for the SPO job is tested for physical fitness. From their own
experience, SPOs surmise that applicants who do well in the physical fitness
regimen are recruited as SPOs, but are not aware of any official screening
procedure. 406
Training and duties
SPO training largely includes physical fitness workouts and some basic training in
the use of weapons. 407 All SPOs are issued a service weapon while on duty—a .303
rifle. 408 SPOs explain that, typically, police deploy female SPOs as guards at
checkposts, base camps, and police stations: “Women get only morcha duty [guard
duty]. Occasionally they take women one or two kilometers away to the jungles to
show them how it [combing operation] looks.” 409
Male SPOs perform the same guard duties as women but also take part in patrols,
Salwa Judum rallies and meetings, and armed fighting. 410 One SPO described how his
brother, also an SPO, died while returning from one such Salwa Judum rally:
My brother died in February 2006 when he was coming back from
Dornapal after a [Salwa Judum] rally. Judum was returning from
Dornapal and were on their way to Konta in five trucks. There was an
ambush and a landmine. Thirty-five SPOs died and my brother was one
405 Human Rights Watch group interview with Irram Seethamma, Telam Suresh, and Mohin Patel (pseudonyms), SPOs, other
details withheld; SPO Mandavi Mohan (pseudonym) and three other SPOs (names and details withheld); Vasanti Kumar
(pseudonym), IDP from Pandiguda, location withheld, December 6, 2007.
406 Human Rights Watch group interview with Irram Seethamma, Telam Suresh, and Mohin Patel (pseudonyms).
407 Ibid. Human Rights Watch interview with SPO5 (who chose to remain anonymous), other details withheld.
408 Ibid.
409 Ibid.
410 Ibid. Human Rights Watch interviews with Rahul Sharma, first interview, December 10, 2007 and Vishwa Ranjan, December
17, 2007.
123
Human Rights Watch July 2008