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Republic Day Parade full dress rehearsal in New Delhi on Sunday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna) Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel who killed militants in the Valley without collateral damage, a CRPF head constable who died fighting militants in Kashmir, an SSB constable who kept firing back at Maoists in Jharkhand’s Dumka even after sustaining bullet injuries, a BSF constable who took on a Bangladeshi cattle smuggler in West Bengal.
These are among 189 winners of the Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) this year.
The lion’s share of the gallantry awards has once again been bagged by J&K Police (115 medals), followed by Chhattisgarh Police (10), and Odisha Police (9). Among Central Armed Police Forces, CRPF won 30 gallantry medals, ITBP and SSB bagged three awards each, and BSF personnel received two.
Among theatres, J&K bagged 134 gallantry awards, followed by 47 PMGs going to personnel operating in the LWE theatre. One PMG was awarded for action in the Northeast.
According to J&K Police, three of its operations in 2019-20 in Budgam, Baramulla and Pulwama stood out for valour shown by its men in killing six militants of different terror outfits. The most high-profile of these operations took place in Sopore, Baramulla, where a team comprising Constables Aijaz Ahmed Dar, Nazir Ahmed Lone and Jahangir Hussain Magray killed two “A-category Pakistani LeT terrorists” along with one local operative.
According to their citation, the three were part of the team that approached a two-storey building where militants were hiding and returned fire when the militants suddenly opened fire in a bid to escape.
In another operation in Sopore in July 2020, CRPF Head Constable Deep Chand Verma died fighting militants holed up in a mosque. As the militants began firing while the CRPF team was setting up a morcha, Verma “took position behind a chinar tree and returned fire,” his citation said.
“He was in direct line of fire…Verma was hit by the terrorist’s bullet, but he kept on firing.… Later he succumbed to injuries,” the citation stated. It said Verma’s timely retaliation gave time to his associates led by Assistant Commandant Johan Beck to take position and launch a counterattack that eventually killed the terrorist.
The two PMG won by BSF were both for taking on cattle smugglers in the eastern theatre. Constable Anand Oraon was attacked by smugglers near Bangladesh border in West Bengal when he challenged them after noticing movement of a dozen cattle at night. According to BSF, one smuggler got hold of his pump action gun and fired at Oraon in the abdomen, leaving him seriously injured. Oraon did not lose control of his weapon and eventually overpowered the smuggler.
Constable Sunder Singh exhibited similar courage when surrounded by several cattle smugglers near the Bangladesh border in Bengal. According to BSF, the smugglers hit him on the head, but Singh fired to disperse them and eventually caught one.
SSB constable Niraj Chetry was awarded PMG for engaging with Maoists deep in the jungles of Dumka, Jharkhand. Chetry and four of his colleagues sustained bullet injuries in the operation and succumbed during treatment.
Besides these, 88 President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 662 Police Medal for Meritorious Service were conferred upon police personnel and officers across the country.
Among the CAPF awardees for meritorious service was CRPF 2IC Shyam Sejwal, who has earlier served in Chhattisgarh and is currently posted with the MHA as legal officer.
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