Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today led the nation in paying tributes to those police and paramilitary personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.
Shinde, along with Minister of State for Home RPN Singh and Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari laid wreaths at the police memorial at Chanakyapuri here.
The martyred personnel were accorded the memorial honour by the police brass and the paramilitary and security establishment with gun salutes and raising of the flags of different forces marking the event.
Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Intelligence Bureau chief Asif Ibrahim and Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi were also present at the event.
Observed as the Police Commemoration Day every year, the occasion marks the incident in Ladakh in 1959 in which police personnel lost their lives while thwarting a Chinese attack.
Since 1960, tribute services on Oct. 21 are held across the country to pay respects to the men and women of the police and paramilitary forces killed on duty during the year.
Since 1961, 31,895 police personnel have been killed in the line of duty; this year, (Sept. 2012-Aug. 2013), 579 personnel in the country laid down their lives during the performance of their duty.
