3 Haryana IPS officers recommended for gallantry medals for stopping farmers from going to Delhi

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 10 directed the Haryana government to remove within a week the barricades at the Shambhu border. The Haryana government has challenged the order in Supreme Court, which will be hearing the plea on July 22.

The Haryana government, in the recommendations sent to Centre on July 2, has pitched for the gallantry medal to IPS officers Sibash Kabiraj (IGP, Karnal), Jashandeep Singh Randhawa (SP, Kurukshetra) and Sumit Kumar (SP, Jind). The three HPS officers include Narender Singh, Ram Kumar and Amit Bhatia (all DSPs). The government forwarded the names after receiving recommendations from DGP Shatrujeet Kapur for “their exceptional bravery and leadership”.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ instructions, the President’s Police Medals for Gallantry are awarded to those personnel “who have either performed acts of exceptional courage and skill or exhibited conspicuous devotion to duty; The conspicuous gallantry in saving life and property or in preventing crime or arresting criminals, the risk incurred being estimated with due regard to the obligations and duties to the officer concerned”.

When farmers announced their agitation in February, Kabiraj was posted as IGP, Ambala range while Randhawa was SP, Ambala. Kabiraj is still looking after Ambala police range while Randhawa was later transferred out. Along with Kabiraj and Randhawa, DSP Narender Singh and DSP Ram Kumar were also posted at Shambu border, the epicentre of the farmers’ agitation. SP, Jind Sumit Kumar and DSP Amit Bhatia, whose names have also been recommended, were posted at Khanauri border on Patiala-Delhi highway at the time of agitation.

According to sources, the senior police officials informed the government that these officers performed their duty when “the police was facing attacks from thousands of agitators from all sides”. According to the officials, had the protesters succeeded in moving towards Delhi, they would have surrounded the national capital like they did in 2020 when the farmers had stayed put for over an year leading an agitation against the now repealed agri laws. The officials also said that the police foiled the attempts of farmers to break the barricading at the border apart from maintaining proper coordination with paramilitary forces.

The protesting farmers had started camping at the borders from February 12. The government claims that nearly 15,000 had gathered at Shambhu border on February 13 adding that the protesters were moving with modified tractors meant to break the barricades. Shubhkaran Singh, a 21-old from Bathinda, was killed and several farmers and police personnel injured in clashes at Khanauri on February 21.