Coming down heavily on involving vigilante group (Salwa Judum) in fighting Maoists, the Supreme Court of India restrained the Chhattisgarh government and the Centre from arming Special Police Officers (SPOs) calling the 5,000-strong force as "unconstitutional". Asking the Chhattisgarh government and the Centre to desist from appointing the tribals as (SPOs) and arming them for countering the Naxals in any manner directly or indirectly, the court said the appointment of tribal youths as SPOs is "unconstitutional". The Supreme Court of India bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar gave this order on 5 July 2011 on a petition filed by sociologist Nandini Sundar, historian Ramachandra Guha, former bureaucrat E A S Sarma and others. Relevant excerpts from the Supreme Court order are posted below along with the full text in PDF.