In India, a Special Task Force (STF) is a type of police task force created to deal with certain problems. Every state has a power to constitute an STF. They are primarily formed due to lack of adequate police forces for a task, like neutralizing a major criminal or criminal network or as a counter-insurgency or anti-terrorism measure. The states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is 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 India ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

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 insurgency. An STF was also formed in 1998 to kill

Shri Prakash Shukla Shri Prakash Shukla was an Indian killer active during the 1990's mainly in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). He was killed on 22 September 1998 in an encounter with the UP police's Special Task Force (India), Special Task Force. He was about 25 a ...

Uttar Pradesh to kill Shri Prakash Shukla

An STF was first formed in 1998 by the Uttar Pradesh Police to kill

. Because at that time crime was at its peak in Uttar Pradesh. In the 1990s

had become the biggest name of terror in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

.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 AK-47 for the first time on the soil of Uttar Pradesh in 1996. So the first time in Uttar Pradesh STF was formed. 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 ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquia ...

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, and murder, either as an ...

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 for us ...

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. There are various ...

s. States of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

and

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in 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 and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

also has a Special Task Force.

State of
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
&
Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police Force (KPF) is one of the two presidency police forces of the Indian state of West Bengal. Kolkata Police has the task of policing the metropolitan area (apart from Bidhannagar and New Town, which are served by the Bidhannag ...

also has a Special Task Force. West Bengal government created new directorate of the Special Task Force under

West Bengal Police The West Bengal Police is one of the two police forces of the Indian state of West Bengal. The other being the Kolkata Police, which has a separate jurisdiction across Kolkata. The West Bengal Police was reorganized under provisions of the Poli ...

Likewise

Arunachal Pradesh Police The Arunachal Pradesh Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the Republic of India after all it is a law enforcement agency but it also is involved in anti insurgency operations in the state of Arunachal Prad ...

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

References

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