Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The special Rapid Action Force (RAF) constituted to prevent riot and violence in the country is celebrating its 25th anniversary today.

The Rapid Action Force has always been famous for a riot prevention party. Whether it is a matter of dealing with the violence that broke out after the Dera chief was sentenced to20 years imprisonment in Haryana or the case of controlling the situation after the riots in Muzaffarpur in 1992, the RAF has been continuously providing its services since last 25 years.

On Saturday, during the celebrations of the 25th, the Silver Jubilee Foundation Day of this special force Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh praising the brave soldiers said that “I have witnessed a magnificent parade today and I am sure the entire nation is proud to have such brave soldiers.” He further added that the RAF has always been supporting the state to maintain law and order, be it during the times of  Communal riots or the responsibility of controlling the crowd.

Rajnath said that in the past 25 years RAF has made a commendable progress and established a strong base for itself. He said that as a result of the works of the RAF it has been successful in creating 5 new battalions, who will start its operations from Jan 2018. The home minister further advised that the police of the 21st century should not be ruthless. He added that the police should also handle matters in a psychological manner, just like the RAF is doing.

He also added that whenever a situation needs harsh handling the discretion of the RAF should be used to address the issue. Now the Rapid Action Force is working using Les Lethal Weapon. Nevertheless, if needed, use police psychological methods to control crowds and violence, he said.

Talking about the vision of India in 2022, Rajnath said that by 2022, there will be an India which will be above discriminations casteism and sectarianism. He further added that earlier the soldiers were provided uniforms by the department, they were not very good and unfitting. Now the soldiers were getting Rs 10,000 so that they can arrange their fittings uniform.

The Rapid Action Force is a part of the country’s largest internal security force Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

There are 10 battalions of Rapid Action Force in 10 cities across the country, which are deployed in sensitive areas when needed. These battalions are in Aligarh, Allahabad, Jamshedpur, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Meerut and Delhi. Apart from this, five more battalions will be deployed in other cities of the country next year.

The RAF force has a blue uniform, which is a symbol of peace. Apart from doing its duty on internal security in the country, RAF has also served as a peace force in countries like Haiti, Kosov and Liberia. In fact, the Rapid Action Force possesses such weapons, which do not hurt the general public much and it helps the RAF to easily control the crowd with these special weapons. The Rapid Action Force has been evolving over the period of time and is being modernised now.