841 policemen died on duty in one year; UP police tops list

Uttar Pradesh police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have lost the maximum number of personnel in the past one year during operations or attacks, accounting for over one-fifth of the total 841 casualties across the country.

According to an official report, these personnel from various state police units and para-military forces like BSF, CRPF and CISF were killed on duty during a period from September 1, 2008 to August 31 this year.

It said 205 out of 841 police personnel killed during this period belonged to the central paramilitary forces deployed on borders, insurgency and naxal affected states.

At least 249 policemen of state police lost their lives in Naxal-affected states, with Maharashtra topping the list, while 38 personnel from seven state police forces in the northeast also met with tragedy during the period.

The statistics showed that UP Police lost 107 of its personnel during the period while CRPF, which is deployed in naxal-affected areas as well as insurgency affected states, lost 82 of its men.

BSF, deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and the borders, followed UP Police and CRPF in causalities with 72 cases. In the number of deaths, Maharashtra also had the same figure as that of BSF. Next to follow is Chhattisgarh, one of the most affected
by the Naxal menace, with 64 deaths of policemen on duty.

Punjab police lost 54 policemen during the period while another naxal-affected state of Jharkhand had 51 casualties followed by Jammu and Kashmir Police (36), ITBP (33), RPF (32), SSB (27) and CISF (23).

In West Bengal, 26 state police personnel and five paramilitary personnel were killed during the period.

Twenty policemen died each in Orissa and Karnataka followed by Bihar (19), Assam (18), Uttarakhand (15) and Madhya Pradesh (12).

Delhi Police lost eight police officers during the period, which included Special Cell Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was killed on September 19 during a gunbattle with suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists who allegedly triggered serial blasts last year.

The others to follow in the list are Gujarat (7) and Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland with five casualties each.

The National Security Guards lost three of their sharpshooters during the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year while three personnel of Rajasthan Police died during the period.

Sikkim (2), Kerala (1) and Tripura (1) were the other states where police lost their personnel.