CRPF worried as states create their own Rapid Action Force

A worried CRPF had approached the Union Home Ministry, asking it to rein in states that have created their own Rapid Action Forces or provided uniforms similar to those worn by CRPF’s RAF personnel. The Force had written to the Ministry barely a month ago. Senior CRPF officers are learnt to have taken up the matter with the Ministry again after Monday’s incident, official sources said.

In a letter to the Ministry last month, a senior CRPF official had drawn its attention to the specialised armed police battalion of the Kolkata Armed Police, saying it was not only using the name RAF but its personnel were also wearing the same blue uniform with the RAF insignia.

This was against a Home Ministry directive issued to all state governments in 1997, asking them not to use RAF as a prefix or suffix. The states were asked not to provide uniforms similar to those used by the RAF. The Ministry was requested to intervene and advise the West Bengal Government against this practice to “avoid any mistaken identity leading to complications”.

This was not the first time the Force was raising the matter. It wrote to the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, in May 2007. The Additional Director General, Eastern Zone, took up the issue with the state Government. But the state Government had done nothing to change the situation, official sources said here.

However, G M Chakrabarti, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, denied that their Force was copying the RAF. “There might be similarities in terms of the colour, but the uniform is not exactly the same,” he said. On using the RAF name, he said Kolkata Police had replied to the CRPF, stating their position on the matter.

The Union Home Ministry’s 1997 guidelines came after police forces in some states, including the Kerala State Rapid Action Force and the Kolkata Rapid Action Force were found using the term RAF. Another instance was the Tamil Nadu State Special Police Force, which was using uniform similar to the RAF.

The RAF had been raised as part of the CRPF to deal with communal riots and riot-like situations. Its personnel had been assigned blue berets and blue dungarees to give them a distinct identity.

Other Forces using similar names and uniforms created confusion and embarrassment for the RAF, the Ministry had pointed out.