Since Independence, over 35,000 police personnel have sacrificed their lives for the country till August this year, as per an official data. It also mentioned that as many as 292 police personnel, including Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF), have lost their lives in the line of duty across the country between September 2018 and August 2019.
Of these 292 martyrs, the CRPF topped the list with 67 causalities. These include 40 personnel killed in the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack, the official statement said quoting figure received from various police forces and organisations.
During this one year period, 41 BSF personnel, 23 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and 24 of Jammu and Kashmir Police were also killed. The list also includes 40 Maharashtra Police personnel killed, including 15 killed in the landmine blast in Gadchiroli district by Maoists in May.
The list further includes, 14 personnel of Chhhattisgarh Police, 12 of Karnataka Police, 11 of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), 10 each of Delhi Police and Rajasthan Police, seven of Bihar Police and six of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were also killed during the period. The list also included those killed from police forces of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana,Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, HimachalPradesh and Tripura, and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB),National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Assam Rifles.
According to the data released, maximum number of paramilitary jawans died while dealing with the cross-border terrorism, and Naxalism within the country. While the state police personnel were killed while dealing with Naxals, terrorists, liquor and sand mafias and other law and order duties.
From Independence in 1947 to August 2019, total 35,136 police personnel were martyred while safeguarding the nation and security of the people, the data stated.
On October 21, Police Commemoration Day, the names of 292 martyrs would be read out during the function.
Police Commemoration Day is observed to pay homage to 10 policemen killed in firing by Chinese troops in 1959.