A policeman with a soft lathi made of betel nut pith. Telegraph picture

The Rapid Action Force (RAF) deployed in the city for rath yatra has undergone an image makeover. People no more see it as a brute force using lathis at will. In fact, the lathis that the jawans are using this time as a “soft” weapon is made of betel nut pith.

These make a lot of sound keeping the crowd away from breaking the security cordons, but do not cause any injury to anyone. DIG (central range) D.S. Kuttey said these soft lathis were first introduced by the temple administration to prevent people from climbing onto the chariots.

The RAF image makeover was the result of a timely briefing by the district police before deployment of the special forces for the yatra.

“We briefed the commandants on how to deal with the crowd of devotees. The emphasis is on maintaining law and order without hurting anyone,” said Puri superintendent of police Amitendra Nath Sinha.

The soft lathis have become the weapon of choice not only for the RAF, but also for some local police officers and the reserve police battalions.

A senior RAF officer said the effort was to convince the people that no force was being used against them. “We have acquired some expertise in crowd control during our deployment in different parts of the country,” he said. Nearly 260 RAF men (two companies) are deployed in the town for the event.

A senior officer and magistrate deployed at the rath yatra site said: “Out of 10 incidents near the rath during crowd control, the RAF has to be strict at least once. They may adopt softer approach in nine cases, but if they do not show some strictness, then controlling the crowds will become very difficult. People become so emotional that sometimes they behave in a wild way.”

Adiyta Hrudaya Mishra, a senior lawyer and president of the Puri Bar Association, said: “There should be a medium path in dealing with the crowd by the RAF. In fact, there were instances of rough handling of situation. But, when one actually happens to be in the crowd and see their behaviour, one cannot blame the RAF.” Mishra also hoped that people would have responsible ways to express their devotion to the Lord.

Social worker Jugabrata Kar also agreed. “We have noticed that the change of approach of the RAF to deal with the crowd has become more friendly. However, still they manage to keep their toughness and no one should question it, as they are trained only to deal with the crowd movement and especially in congregations such as this.”

Earlier, people form various localities of the city had urged Sinha to adopt a people-friendly approach during the car festival. Accordingly, deployment of local officers near the lane joining Grand Road was effected, so that people of a particular locality will not suffer and have to take a much longer route to reach their place during the festival.