The police station at Tamar is almost a hundred years old, built by the British in 1911. Today, this colonial structure has been turned into a fortress, complete with assault rifles, night vision devices, wireless sets, a bullet-proof Gypsy, even an anti-mines vehicle.

Night has set in at Tamar and the chowkidars, on the 6 pm to 6 am shift, stare into the darkness, their gaze fixed on the forests and the hills before them. Because Tamar is one of the forward posts in the state’s war against the Naxalites whose turf now extends beyond the boundaries of Jharkhand into West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Orissa.

At Tamar, you can tell that the securitymen are leaving nothing to chance. A new police station building is coming up and so are two watch towers. The three Sub-Inspectors, Munshi and the 40 constables of Jharkhand’s Special Task Force are all very young — in the age group 20-25, they are paid salaries ranging between Rs 5000 and Rs 20,000 every month — but they are willing to take on the Naxals, secure in the knowledge that should one of them get killed in action, at least the family would be compensated Rs 10 lakh.

The men here are forever on alert, aware that the Naxalites rely on terror tactics — some 150-200 of them swoop down on a police station, kill, loot arms and then melt into the forests. At times, when the police give chase, the counter-offensive takes them to the hills where the Naxalites, safely perched at vantage points, lob grenades and open fire with AK-47s and machine guns.

... contd.