Independence Day 2020: Govt announces Police Medals, J&K tops gallantry list

NEW DELHI: Jammu & Kashmir Police and CRPF personnel engaged in counter-terror operations in the Union territory walked away with 122 or nearly 57% of the total 215 police medals for gallantry awarded this Independence Eve. The honour for police and paramilitary personnel fighting terror threat emanating from the western front came on a day ITBP also announced that it had recommended 21 of its personnel who displayed “raw courage” on the Indo-China front during faceoffs in Eastern Ladakh in May-June 2020, for police medals and rewarded 294 others with Director General’s commendations.
J&K police got the highest haul of 81 gallantry medals this I-Day eve. The valiant acts of 55 CRPF bravehearts, including 41 in J&K and 14 in Left-wing extremism-hit zones, were also honored. Uttar Pradesh police ranked third with 23 gallantry medals, while Delhi received 16 medals. The only Central force other than CRPF to be rewarded for gallantry was BSF, which got 1 medal in this category.
A total 926 police medals were announced on Friday, including 215 police medals for gallantry, 80 President’s police medals for distinguished service and 631 police medals for meritorious service. No President’s police medal for gallantry was rewarded.
While 123 gallantry medals are for actions in J&K, 29 are for actions in LWE areas and eight in the northeast region.
Among the gallantry awardees this year is late Delhi Police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was martyred in the 2008 Batla House encounter that had triggered the downfall of Indian Mujahideen. However, the latest gallantry honour for Sharma, his seventh, is for a 2007 joint encounter in Jammu by Delhi Police special cell and J&K police, in which Jaish commander Saifullah alias Qari, was neutralized. Saifullah was the mastermind behind a foiled terror attack on the makeshift Ram Lalla temple at Ayodhya in 2005.
Sharma had tracked Saifullah’s hideout in Jammu based on interrogation of two Jaish terrorists caught in Delhi.
Another Delhi Police officer Dharmender Sharma, who was also in the Batla House strike team, has received a gallantry award for the same operation.
Among the J&K police personnel decorated for bravery is DIG Atul Kumar Goel who was in charge of the intelligence-based operation that led to the arrest of then J&K police deputy SP Davinder Singh with two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists from a car intercepted on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Naresh Kumar, assistant commandant in CRPF, scripted history by receiving his 7th police medal for gallantry in a span of four years. Kumar has led the CRPF Valley quick action team (QAT) in Srinagar.
UP police personnel received 23 police medals for gallantry, 6 President’s police medals for distinguished service and 73 police medals for meritorious service. Among the bravehearts honored is IPS officer Asim Arun and six others who killed ISIS-inspired terrorist Saifullah in an encounter at Kakori, Lucknow in 2017. Saifullah’s associates had earlier carried out a blast in a train at Bhopal.
The prominent counter-Naxal actions that earned gallantry recognition include the capture of 15 hardcore Maoists including senior area committee member Sunil Manjhi in an operation at Giridih, Jharkhand; and a 2017 encounter with Maoists in Ghadchiroli, Maharashtra, that left two female Maoists dead.
Among the Central police organisations, CRPF got a total haul of 118 medals, BSF 52, IB 36, CBI 32, CISF 25 and ITBP 14.