292 police personnel killed in line of duty in last one year

15-10-19

AS MANY as 292 police personnel, including 67 belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and 41 from Border Security Force (BSF), have laid down their lives in the line of duty in last one year, Deputy Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Badri Narayan said in a letter issued to Heads of State Police Force and Central Forces.

The IB has issued a list of police personnel who laid their lives in the line of duty. According to the list, 292 police personnel were killed while performing various duties across the country from September 1, 2018 to August 30, 2019. As per the data released up to August 31, 2019, more than 35,136 police personnel have made supreme sacrifice in service of the nation.

Among these police personnel, 67 belonged to the CRPF, 41 to the BSF, 23 were from the Indo Tibet Border Police (ITBP), 24 from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, 20 belonged to Maharashtra police, 14 from Chhhattisgarh, 12 from Karnataka police, 11 belonged to Railway Protection Force, 10 each from Delhi and Rajasthan police, seven from Bihar police, six of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), five each belonged to Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Jharkhand police and Uttarakhand police, four jawans of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), three each belonged to Assam Rifles and Arunachal Pradesh police, three from Haryana police, two each from Andhra Pradesh Police, Madhya Pradesh police and Manipur police, and one each from Himachal Pradesh police, Sikkim police, Tripura polic and Uttarakhand police.

A senior police official said that majority of the CRPF, BSF and ITBP jawans died while dealing with cross-border firing from Pakistan, fighting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxals and other law and order duties. The dastardly attack on CRPF convoy by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist claimed 44 lives in February.

In Maharashtra 20 police personnel were killed on-duty in a year. Of them, 17 were killed in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra including 15 police personnel were ambushed and killed in a landmine blast triggered by the Naxalites in Gadchroli on May 1, 2019 and PSI Chhatrapati Chide was killed by liquor mafia in Chandrapur district.

The list was issued by IB for Police Commemoration Day that would be observed on October 21 to commemorate the sacrifices of the 10 policemen while defending India’s borders with China in 1959.

Indian police personnel were responsible for manning the 2,500 mile-long border of India with Tibet until the autumn of 1959. On October 20, 1959, three reconnaissance parties were launched from Hot Springs in North Eastern Ladakh in preparation for further movement of an Indian expedition which was on its way to Lanak La.

Chinese troops opened fire and threw grenades at a party of 20 police personnel. Ten were killed in the incident, which left seven others injured, who were later taken as prisoners. Three weeks later, China returned the bodies of the ten personnel which were later cremated with full police honours at Hot Springs in North Eastern Ladakh.

A memorial was erected at Hot Springs and members of Police Forces from different parts of the country trek to Hot Springs to pay homage to the martyrs. Since the year 2012, the Police Commemoration Day Parade is being held at the National level at the Police Memorial, Chanakyapuri.