Raman is a senior IPS officer and has recently been posted as D.G. of a state. Among the various issues and problems/challenges which needed his immediate attention, the issue relating to recruitment of unemployed youth by an unknown terrorist group, was a matter of grave concern. It was noted that unemployment was relatively high in the state. The problem of unemployment amongst graduates and those with higher education was much more grave. Thus they were vulnerable and soft targets. In the review meeting taken by him with senior officers of DIG Range and above, it came to light that a new terrorist group has emerged at the global level. It has launched a massive drive to recruit young unemployed people. Special focus was to pick young people from a particular community. The said organisation seemed to have the clear objective of utilising/using them for carrying out militant activities. It was also gathered that the said (new) group is desperately trying to spread its tentacles in his state. A definite/reliable intelligence tip was received by the State CID and Cyber Cell that a large number of such unemployed youth have already been contacted by the terrorist outfit/group through social media and local communal organisations and other contacts. The need of the hour was to act swiftly and to check these elements/designs before they assume serious proportions. Discrete inquiries made by the police, through the Cyber Cell, revealed that good numbers of unemployed youth are very active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On an average, many of them were spending 6-8 hours each day, using electronic devices/internet, etc. It also came to light that such unemployed youth were showing sympathy and endorsing the messages received from certain persons, allegedly the contact persons of that global terrorist group. Their social media accounts revealed their strong affinity to such groups inasmuch as many of them started forwarding anti-national tweets on their WhatsApp and Facebook, etc. It seemed that they succumbed to their ploy and started propagating secessionist ideology. Their posts were hyper-critical of the government's initiatives, policies and subscribing to extreme beliefs and promoting extremism. a) What are the options available to Raman to tackle the above situation? b) What measures would you suggest for strengthening the existing set-up to ensure that such groups do not succeed in penetrating and vitiating the atmosphere in the state? c) In the above scenario, what action plan would you advise for enhancing the intelligence gathering mechanism of the police force?
Based on 28 evaluated answers to this question on CollectorBabu: here is what aspirants most often missed, the mistakes that cost marks, and a model answer.
What most aspirants missed
- Employment linkage: name specific schemes such as PMKVY and PMEGP and targeted placement for graduates in vulnerable areas, since unemployment is the root cause.
- Legal tools: UAPA, 1967 for the outfit and its contacts, NIA referral, and IT Act Section 69 and 69A for surveillance and content blocking.
- HUMINT: community liaison officers and informers within local communal organisations and online groups, which is absent in most answers.
- Coordination with IB, NIA and NATGRID, with inter-state and international cooperation for cross-border networks.
- Counter-radicalisation: de-radicalisation cells with psychologists and religious scholars, plus counter-narrative on social media platforms.
- Safeguards: balance of surveillance with privacy under the Puttaswamy judgment and avoiding stigma against the targeted community.
Common mistakes
- Recommending a blanket internet ban or pre-emptive arrests without legal basis, which is heavy-handed and legally questionable for a DG-level response.
- Proposing unrealistic steps such as raising the issue at the UN, which lies beyond a state DG's jurisdiction.
- Using jargon or catchy labels like 'trace-target-terminate' without explaining the actual intelligence method.
- Generic suggestions like 'skilling schemes' or 'big data analytics' without naming the scheme or explaining how the tool works.
What the better answers did
- Answers separate parts (a), (b) and (c) clearly and address the specific demand of each part.
- Specific names of laws, schemes and bodies, such as UAPA, IT Act Section 69A, PMKVY, PMEGP, NATGRID and Fusion Centres.
- Each measure is linked to the facts of the case: social media use, the targeted community, and graduate unemployment.
- A closing line on legal safeguards and community trust shows constitutional awareness without padding.
Introduction
Open by naming the twin threat in the case, global recruitment of educated unemployed youth and their online radicalisation, and state that the response must be swift yet lawful.
Conclusion
Close by stressing that enforcement against handlers, jobs and de-radicalisation for at-risk youth, and community trust must work together, all within constitutional limits.
Model answer
Raman must act fast but within law. The threat has two linked elements: a global outfit targeting unemployed, educated youth, and a local youth bulge that is online for 6-8 hours a day. Response must combine enforcement, prevention and intelligence, with safeguards under the Puttaswamy privacy test.
(a) Options available
- Immediate surveillance of flagged accounts under Section 69 of the IT Act, 2000, with targeted content blocking under Section 69A rather than a blanket internet ban under Section 144 CrPC.
- Register cases under UAPA, 1967 against identified contact persons and the outfit, and refer the case to NIA where it has inter-state or international links.
- Preventive engagement: counselling and warnings for youth on the fringe, and use of the Cyber Cell to report extremist accounts to platforms.
- Limits: arrests must rest on evidence, not suspicion. Mass detention or pre-emptive arrests without legal basis would alienate the targeted community and weaken prosecution.
(b) Strengthening the set-up
- Employment: target skilling through PMKVY and loans under PMEGP, with placement drives for graduates in the vulnerable districts.
- Counter-radicalisation: set up a state de-radicalisation cell with psychologists and religious scholars, on the lines of Kerala and Maharashtra models, for youth already influenced.
- Community policing: mohalla committees and liaison with religious leaders and elders to counter the narrative, without stigmatising the community.
- Counter-narrative on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp, with tie-ups with platforms for takedown of hate and extremist content.
(c) Intelligence action plan
- HUMINT: community liaison officers at police station level and informers within local communal organisations and online groups.
- Technical capacity: a cyber monitoring cell with digital forensics and social media analytics, using sentiment analysis and network graph analysis to find key nodes in recruitment chains.
- Coordination: regular sharing with IB, NIA and NATGRID, use of the state Fusion Centre, and inter-state coordination for cross-border networks.
- Training: periodic training for personnel on early warning signs of radicalisation and legal limits of surveillance.
Raman's response should be swift, lawful and preventive. Enforcement against the handlers, de-radicalisation and jobs for the at-risk youth, and community trust together can deny the outfit its recruits.
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