As many as 855 police and paramilitary personnel were on Friday awarded police medals, including 149 for gallantry in Jammu & Kashmir, Naxal violence affected areas and others, ahead of the Republic Day.
The CRPF, the country’s largest paramilitary force, was decorated with maximum 44 awards for bravery including two paramilitary troops getting Kirti Chakra (posthumously) and one with Shaurya Chakra for operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Kirti Chakra is the second highest and Shaurya Chakra is the third highest peace time gallantry award.
CRPF was followed by Odisha Police at 26 medals, Jammu and Kashmir Police 25 medals and Chhattisgarh 14 medals.
Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were also decorated posthumously with the top category President’s Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG).
Other gallantry medal winners are from Meghalaya (13), Uttar Pradesh (10), Border Security Force (8), Delhi (4), Jharkhand (3) and one each from the Assam Rifles and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
A total of 146 Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG), 74 President’s Police Medal for distinguished service and 632 police medal for meritorious service were conferred on the men and the women in khaki from various state police and central police forces and organizations, the Union Home Ministry said in a statement.
On the eve of the Republic Day, the two slain CRPF jawans were decorated with Kirti Chakra and their commander was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for displaying dare devilry in taking on heavily armed terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Awantipora in 2017.
The military honours were bestowed on constables Pradip Kumar Panda and Rajendra Kumar Nain, who were killed while fighting the militants who stormed their camp in Awantipora, while their commander Assistant Commandant Zile Singh was decorated with the Shaurya Chakra.
The three displayed exemplary bravery to thwart the deadly fidayeen attack that was carried out on December 30, 2017, and went on for over 36 hours, reads the citation. Three heavily armed terrorists were killed by the CRPF personnel after the gun battle ended.
Five troops of the force were also killed in this pre-dawn attack on the multi-acre camp that also serves as training centre for jawans inducted for counter-militancy operations in the Kashmir Valley.
CISF Jawan Sushil Bhoi won a “Jeevan Raksha Padak” for a selfless gesture of rescuing a 14-year-old boy, trapped into a crevasse at a high-rise building in Ghaziabad.
Twenty-eight other officials of CISF have also been decorated with various police medals for rendering exceptional services. CISF is the force tasked primarily to guard civil airports and sensitive installations across the country.
Amongst the other officials, Inspector General (NCR) Sudhir Kumar has been awarded the President’s police medal for distinguished service along with R C Choudhary, the Commandant of the Jaipur-based 8th battalion. Deputy IG S Ambastha, Deputy Commandant Ombir Singh and Assistant Commandant (AC) A S Samyal have been decorated with the meritorious service medal on the eve of the Republic Day.
A brave ITBP officer, part of a security forces’ team that killed LeT commander Abu Dujana in Jammu and Kashmir in 2017, was awarded the police medal for gallantry. Fifteen other officials of the border guarding force were also awarded the medal for exemplary services.
Assistant Commandant (AC) Anurag Kumar Singh was deputed with the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles that went into the operation in August 2017 in Pulwama where two militants each of the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Laskar-e-Taiba, including Dujana, were killed. Dujana was a Pakistani national.
Fifteen other officials of the force have been decorated with the President’s police medal for distinguished service and the police medal for meritorious service on the eve of Republic Day.
While Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Manoj Kumar Singh has been awarded the distinguished service medal, AC Gireesh Chandra Patni has been decorated for meritorious service. The others awarded for meritorious service are Inspector NS Sati and Constable Kunwar Pal.