Red umbrella clouds khaki

So deep-rooted is the distrust in khaki that the 10,000-odd villagers living here, belonging mostly to the Tharu community, have come up with their own criminal code. For instance, there’s a provision for ‘‘settling’’ murders, and a rapist is made to pay Rs 1,200 to the victim’s family and cough up another Rs 500 for a village feast.

‘‘Hardly anyone comes here. The only people we see in days together is the sweeper. People here just want to avoid the police,’’ says Head Constable Piyush Pandey, displaying the blank FIR register at Chandan Chowki police station, set up in the early 1980s.

Pandey adds that the Inspector in-charge ‘‘has not joined duty for almost four months now’’. ‘‘He must be lobbying for some other place. Who wants to be here anyway? There is no ‘extra earning’ as well,’’ he says. The last case registered here was in 2000: Forest Officer A.V. Tiwari lodged a case of attempt to murder against some infiltrators.

Pandey outlines their ‘‘job’’ for the day. ‘‘Two men guard a bank and two others escort buses in the evening. That’s all the work we have,’’ he says.

The only thing that sometimes keeps them busy: issuing challans under the Motor Vehicles Act to buses plying without proper documents.

Explains H.R. Pathania, Commanding Officer, 25th Battalion SSB, which is posted along the border: ‘‘Maoists cross over to this side of the border and villagers of the Tharu community shelter them. Over the years, the Maoists’ influence has rubbed on them as well. The villagers just refuse to talk to any person in uniform,’’ he says.

Bhiru Bagh, whose son was murdered recently, tells us: ‘‘I have just three sons and not four.’’ This has been his version to police too. Prodded further, Bagh admits: ‘‘My son was murdered by his friend, also from the Tharu community. But why tell the police? We will settle this on our own.’’

Village pradhan Bishnu Kanth says villagers of the community are forgiven for their crimes. ‘‘But any offender from other communities is killed. The police are not needed in any event,’’ he says.

At Gorifonta, 50m away from Nepal, SI Manmohan Dyal Verma and his 40-odd men are as jobless as their Chandan Chowki counterparts. ‘‘We have even stopped doing night duty. What crime will be reported at night, if there’s nothing happening in the morning,’’ he says.