As many as 383 police personnel from different state police forces, central paramilitary forces and central police organisations were killed this year, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Rajiv Jain said on Saturday.
Of the police personnel killed in the line of duty from September 2016 to August 2017 included 56 from the Border Security Force and 42 from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Jain said on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day.
The day is observed every year on October 21 to commemorate the 10 police personnel who were killed in Hot Springs in Ladakh in 1959 by Chinese troops and 34,400 others who laid down their lives protecting India's unity and integrity.
Among these police personnel, 76 belonged to the Uttar Pradesh Police, 49 from the Central Reserve Police Force, 23 belonged to Chhattisgarh Police, 16 were from West Bengal Police, 13 each belonged to Delhi Police and the Central Industrial Security Force, 12 each were from Bihar and Karnataka Police and 11 from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Majority of the police personnel died while dealing with cross-border firing from Pakistan, fighting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxals and other law and order duties, a Home Ministry statement said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for HRD Satyapal Singh attended the event held at the National Police Memorial here.
The 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.
While members of two parties returned to Hot Springs, the third one comprising two police constables and a porter did not return, the statement said. The remaining forces were mobilised next morning in search of the missing personnel.
A party of about 20 police personnel led by Karam Singh, a Deputy Central Intelligence Officer (DCIO) rank officer, proceeded on horseback while others followed on foot in three sections. At mid-day, the Chinese Army personnel were seen on a hillock who opened fire and threw grenades at the Indian party, the statement said.
Since there was no cover, most personnel were injured.
Ten of the brave police personnel were killed and seven others sustained injuries in the incident. Bodies of the 10 personnel were returned by the Chinese on November 13, three weeks after the incident.
The bodies were then cremated with full police honours at Hot Springs in Ladakh.
The annual conference of Inspectors General of Police of states and Union Territories held in January 1960 decided that October 21 would, henceforth, be observed as "Commemoration Day" in all police lines in the country to mark the memory of those gallant personnel, the statement said.
It was also decided to erect a memorial at Hot Springs, and that members of police forces from different parts of the country trek to Hot Springs every year to pay homage to the gallant policemen.
Since Independence, 34,418 police personnel have sacrificed their lives safeguarding the integrity of the nation and providing security to people of this country, the statement added.
--IANS
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