On the occasion of 75th Independence Day, 23 Delhi Police personnel and officers were conferred with Police Medals for their service in the national Capital. Out of them, six police personnel and officers have been conferred with the Police Medal for Gallantry.
Amit Sharma, then Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and presently posted as Superintendent of Police (SP) of Daman, Anuj Kumar, then Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and presently posted as SP, Diu, Head Constable Rattan Lal (posthumously), Constables Pradeep Sharma, Mohit Kumar and Naveen were awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry for their courage, presence of mind and gallantry shown in a critical situation during the Northeast Delhi riots in February 2020.
Besides them, Joint Commissioner of Police Tusar Taba and Sub Inspector Chacko VC have been conferred the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service, while Additional Commissioners of Police Rajneesh Gupta and Rajeev Ranjan, DCP Vikram Kapali Porwal, DCP Ajay Pal Singh, DCP Sushil Kumar Singh, Additional DCP Govind are among 15 personnel who have been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
On February 24, 2020, violent clashes broke out between two communities near Maujpur Chowk in northeast Delhi, with crowds indulging in heavy stone pelting leading to riots.
According to the police, Amit Sharma who was then posted as DCP, Shahdara was at a protest site at Chand Bagh Mazar to ensure no traffic movement was disrupted on Wazirabad Road but since there were heavy crowds, ACP Gokalpuri Anuj Kumar arrived there along with staff to assist the DCP.
When the crowd swelled to around 30,000 and spread upto Brijpuri T-point. Sharma and his personnel tried to pacify them, asking them to remain at the protest site, but they started spilling over on Wazirabad Road in an aggressive manner. All of a sudden, a mob gathered around the police party and started pelting stones.