In India, a Special Task Force (STF) is a type of

special police Special police usually describes a law enforcement agency or unit within a such an agency whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same nation, jurisdiction, or from other personnel within the same agen ...

force tasked to deal with violent issues such as wanted criminals and

insurgencies An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

. They are primarily formed due to lack of adequate police forces for a task, like neutralizing a criminal network or carrying out anti-terrorism measures. Every state has their own power to constitute an STF. The states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

first raised Special Task forces in the 1980s to counter ivory poacher, Veerapan, whom the forces eventually killed in 2004 with Operation Cocoon. In late 1980s, such forces were formed in Punjab to counter an insurgency. An STF was also formed on May 1998 in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

by IPS AjayRaj Sharma on the recommendation of IAS RajivRatan Shah to kill the infamous dreaded criminal ShreePrakash Shukla, mission led by IPS Rajesh Pandey, under the name of 'Operation BAZOOKA'.

STF in Uttar Pradesh

An STF was first formed in 1998 by the Uttar Pradesh Police to kill Shree Prakash Shukla. Because at that time crime was at its peak in Uttar Pradesh. In the 1990s Shree Prakash Shukla had become the biggest name of terror in

.The fear of Shri Prakash Shukla in the 90s was such that even the police used to go out of his way. Shukla had driven an AK-47 with him for the first time onto the soil of Uttar Pradesh in 1996. In response to these military-like tactics, an STF was formed for the first time in Uttar Pradesh. Shri Prakash Shukla is still considered as the biggest don of Uttar Pradesh. The extortion and other illegal activities were at its all-time high. The STF proved to be very successful in capturing criminals and controlling crimes in UP. Since then it has been an integral part of UP police. The special Task Force of UP Police was created vide GO No. 1889 (1) VI-Pu-2-98-1100 (35) dated 4.5.98 of UP Government for the following objectives: # Collection of Intelligence about Mafia gangs and Intelligence based action against such gangs. # Preparation of action plan and its execution against Disruptive Elements specially ISI agents. # Action against listed gangs in coordination with the district police. # Effective action against gang of

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word डाकू (ḍākū); "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with the meaning "a robber belonging to an armed ...

s, especially inter-district gangs. # Effective action against inter-district gangs of Organized criminals. With the creation of the ATS, charter no 2, i.e., action for prevention of disruptive activities especially ISI agents have been transferred to the ATS. The STF is headed by an Additional Director General rank officer, who is assisted by an Inspector General of Police. The STF works as teams, with each team headed by either an Additional SP or Deputy SP. The SSP is in charge of all the operations conducted by the STF. STF has a pan-UP jurisdiction. Its teams also operate outside the state, with the assistance of respective State police. UP STF relies extensively upon human intelligence, technology, and sophisticated tactics to achieve its objectives. Over its short lifetime of about 15 years, UP STF has an enviable history of boasting of 81 Police Medals of Gallantry awarded by the President of India and 60 officers being granted out-of-turn promotion for acts of conspicuous gallantry. ′′′′′′

Others

Another Special Task Force was constituted by

and

to nab forest

bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

s and

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods. Sanda ...

smuggler Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

s. The states of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

also have a Special Task Force.

West Bengal

STF in West Bengal primarily mandate to deal in offences related to terrorism, FICN (counterfeiting), narcotics, arms, ammunition and explosives, money laundering and sedition. On August 2008

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...

established Special Task Force through merging two Anti-terrorist squads. Kolkata Police STF Unit function under

Police Commissioner of Kolkata The Commissioner of the Kolkata Police (formerly Commissioner of the Calcutta Police) is the head of the Kolkata Police. The Kolkata police commissioner is appointed by the Minister of Home and Hill Affairs and reports independently to the Ho ...

. On Sept 2019 West Bengal government created new directorate of the Special Task Force under

West Bengal Police The West Bengal Police () is the primary law enforcement agency for the Indian state of West Bengal, excluding the metropolitan area of Kolkata, which has its own separate police force. It is responsible for maintaining public order, preventing ...

STF, West Bengal is a separate field unit functioning under the DGP

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

Likewise

Arunachal Pradesh Police The Arunachal Pradesh Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency ( ...

also has a Special Task Force Company formed in the year 2008.

References

{{Law enforcement in India Law enforcement in India Uttar Pradesh Police