Question:

Supreme Court recently declared 'Salva Judum' unconstitutional. What is 'Salva Judum'?

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It came out of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh in 2005, and its members were enrolled as Special Police Officers and given guns by the state.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • A terrorist outfit
  • An armed civilian group formed to combat Maoists
  • A money-chain business
  • Custom of killing a girl for inter-caste marriage in the name of honour
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
Salva Judum is a Gondi phrase that is usually translated as "purification hunt" or "peace march".
The question asks what it actually was, given that the Supreme Court struck it down.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Work out where it operated and who ran it. That fixes what kind of body it was.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Salva Judum started in 2005 in the Dantewada region of Chhattisgarh, a Maoist affected area.
It was a militia of local tribal youth, armed and paid by the state government, and raised to fight Naxalites.
The members were appointed as Special Police Officers, or SPOs, given firearms and a small monthly honorarium, and used against the Maoists.
On 5 July 2011, in Nandini Sundar v. State of Chhattisgarh, the Supreme Court declared the arming of these SPOs unconstitutional.
The Bench was Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar.
The Court held that arming poorly trained and poorly paid tribal youth and sending them into counter insurgency violated Articles 14 and 21.
It said the state cannot pass its own duty of maintaining security on to untrained civilians, and it ordered the group disbanded and the weapons recalled.
Why the other options are wrong:
A terrorist outfit is wrong because Salva Judum was raised and backed by the state itself, and it was fighting the insurgents, not carrying out insurgency.
A money chain business has nothing to do with it and describes a chit fund or ponzi scheme.
Killing a girl over an inter caste marriage describes an honour killing, a completely separate subject that the Supreme Court has dealt with in other cases.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Salva Judum was an armed civilian group formed to combat Maoists, which is option (B).
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