Despite sacrificing senior police officers, including the Chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism squad (ATS) Hemant Karkare, during the Mumbai terror attack on November 26, 2008, very few lessons have been learned by the in-service fellow officers of the Indian Police Service in recent years.
On Monday, the Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police (DGP), Nalin Prabhat, was seen leading the combing and search operations (CASO) in the border area of Hiranagar, Kathua. The IPS officer of the 1992 batch, who also served as the Director General of the National Security Guard (NSG), was armed with an AK series rifle as he led the anti-terrorist operations from the front.
Senior officers of the Jammu range, including the Inspector General of Police, DIG, SSP Kathua and SP operations, Kathua, accompanied him in the thickly forested area. Despite taking all necessary precautions, the DGP was not seen wearing a bulletproof vest and protective headgear (patka) to ensure his safety.
As his images were published on various social media platforms, questions were raised about whether DGP was violating the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) while leading the anti-terrorist operations.
The Police Chief earlier rushed to the active area on Sunday and supervised the ongoing operations to neutralise the terrorists trapped in the thickly forested area of Sanyal.
According to preliminary reports, an alarm was raised by a couple who claimed to have spotted a group of five terrorists in the nearby forests while they were out there to collect firewood. DGP also interacted with the couple and gathered vital inputs based on their assessment of the group of terrorists hiding in the area.
In the past, senior army and police officers sacrificed their lives in the line of duty during anti-terrorist operations, and several others received injuries when they were present on ground zero.
On September 14, 2023, Col Manpreet Singh and Major Ashish Dhonchak of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, and DSP Humayun Bhat of J&K Police sacrificed their lives during a fierce gunfight with terrorists in the forests surrounding Gadool village of Kokernag in Anantnag district.
On Feb 18, 2019 a deputy inspector general of police, a Rashtriya Rifles commander of the rank of brigadier and a lieutenant colonel were among the top police and Army officers injured in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The encounter took place in Pulwama’s Pingleena area.
On September 13, 2018, two para-commandos received gunshot injuries while neutralising the third terrorist in the last leg of the counter.
Emerging out of his safe hideout, the lone terrorist opened fire on these commandos when he came face to face with them during the combing and search operations in the thickly vegetated fields of Kakriyal.
Media teams led by a senior police officer had a narrow escape as the lone terrorist opened a barrage of fire using his AK rifle. In the fierce gun fight the commandos eliminated him, successfully ending the 33-hour-long chase in search of these terrorists.
Meanwhile, in the absence of any success, a joint team of security forces continued to search the general area of Hiranagar for the third day in succession to eliminate terrorists hiding in the area. On the other hand, local police authorities have so far detained three suspects, and the army found two China-made hand-grenades since Monday evening in the area.
