Growing vulnerability, sagging morale and the lack of preparedness of the Bihar police was exposed, once again, when Naxalites blew up a police vehicle killing 12 persons, including 11 police personnel in the western Bihar district of Rohtas. Police sources said the attack was a combined operation of the banned Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the People’s War Group (PWG). For some time now, there has been increasing cooperation between these two formidable Naxal organizations and available evidence indicate that they are working on a merger. The emerging unity between the PWG and MCC and their deepening linkages with Maoist insurgents in Nepal pose serious challenge to the police organization in one of India’s most backward states.

The police force has been one of the principal targets of Naxalite groups in Bihar. During the current year alone, as many as 28 police personnel have been killed in Naxalite violence. In 2002, according to Bihar police sources, a total of 104 persons, including 19 Naxalites, six police personnel and 79 civilians, were killed in Naxal violence, while in 2001, 121 persons were killed, which included 14 Naxalites, 24 police personnel and 83 civilians.

Lack of resources including sophisticated weapons, modern equipment, other infrastructure and the absence of a proper mechanism to train and motivate police personnel are some of the reasons for police vulnerability.. Unfortunately, despite the repeated attacks, no attempt has been made by the state government to formulate a comprehensive anti-Naxal policy and equip the police force with modern weapons. It is therefore, not surprising that the morale of the police is quite low. After the 8 September landmine blast, the secretary of the Bihar Policemen’s Association (BPMA), K K Jha, regretted the lack of sophisticated weapons with the police force to take on the Naxalites. Speaking in Patna on 9 September, he said, “Policemen are being killed by Naxalites who have better arms. Despite several reminders, the Government has not provided the latest weapons to the police to take on the ultras particularly in the Naxal-hit areas”.  Jha alleged that 70 per cent of the personnel still carry World War II-vintage rifles, which are no match to the sophisticated weapons and explosives of the Naxalite groups. Earlier, after the 15 April landmine blast, the DGP, DP Ojha, confessed that the state police could not effectively tackle extremist outfits due to highly inadequate infrastructure and lack of resources. Speaking in Patna on 16 April, he asked, “How can one expect the police force to contain the extremists? They don’t have even matching fire power, lack standardised police pickets and are deprived of state-of-the-art communication systems besides bullet-proof vehicles and mine-protected vehicles..” Despite recommendation of a team of experts appointed by the government to provide bulletproof vehicles and mine-protected vehicles for each of the police stations located in Naxalite-affected areas, nothing concrete has happened. According to one estimate, the state police would need roughly 800 such vehicles to effectively man police stations located in these areas requiring an expenditure of around Rs.500 crores.

As far as motivating police personnel to take on the Naxalites goes, the state government has not yet paid compensation to the families of the victims of Naxal violence. Immediately after the 8 September blast, the Bihar government had announced compensation to the families of the victim in the form of Rs.10 lakhs in cash and a job to an immediate relative. However, the BPMA maintains that none of the 46 police personnel killed in extremist related violence since November 2001 have received any kind of compensation.

It is evident that the Bihar government has yet to formulate a proper response to the growing Naxalite violence in the state. After every major incident of Naxal violence, the government comes up with a succession of ad hoc and emergency measures which has only had a negative impact on the performance of the police in Bihar. Apart from persistent and expanding extremist violenceâ€â€