New Delhi: Anti-Naxal and counter-insurgency
operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast drew the
maximum number of gallantry awards for police and paramilitary
forces this year.
As a total of 97 police gallantry medals were today
announced by the government on the eve of the Republic day,
more than half (about 52) have gone to those personnel who are
either combating Left-wing extremists in various states or
have taken on militants and insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir
and the northeast.
1992-batch IPS officer Nalin Prabhat was awarded the
gallantry medal a second time for conducting a daring
operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in 2010 to eliminate
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Abu Atif who masterminded the
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) attack in Bangalore and the
Rampur CRPF camp attack.
Young Chhattisgarh cadre IPS officer Ankit Garg was
honoured with the bravery medal for spearheading anti-Naxal
operations in Maoist hotbed of Dantewada as the Superintendent
of Police (SP).
The troops of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF),
deployed extensively for anti-Maoist operations, have not only
been decorated with four of the top-notch President's police
medal for gallantry out of the total seven in this category,
14 other personnel of the force have got the medals for
gallant action in the same theatre of operations.
Constable Bhoop Singh of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP) was awarded posthumously for gallantry as he took on
Naxals at the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border in January last
year and succumbed to his bullet injuries.
Another special mention in the daredevils' list is of BSF
constable Jai Kishan who in May last year, at the
international border (IB) with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir,
battled and laid down his life while engaging two intruders in
a gunfight from across the border while he was on the 'naka'
(picket) duty.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 21:36