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Why India remembers its police dead on 21 October: the Hot Springs ambush of 1959 explained
Amit Shah led the national tribute at the National Police Memorial on Wednesday. The date goes back to a patrol in north-eastern Ladakh 67 years ago, when ten policemen were killed by Chinese troops.
The short answer
On 21 October 1959 a party of about 20 Indian police personnel searching for missing colleagues near Hot Springs in north-eastern Ladakh was fired on by Chinese troops. Ten were killed and seven injured, and China returned the bodies only on 13 November. In January 1960 the annual conference of state police chiefs decided that 21 October would be observed in every police line as Commemoration Day. Since 2018 the main ceremony has been held at the National Police Memorial in New Delhi, which carries the names of police personnel killed on duty since Independence.
What happened at Hot Springs?
A police patrol in Ladakh was ambushed by Chinese troops, and ten of its men were killed.
Until the autumn of 1959, India’s border with Tibet in Ladakh was watched not by the army but by the police. In October that year a party of about 20 police personnel set out from Hot Springs, in the north-eastern corner of Ladakh, to look for colleagues who had gone missing on patrol. It was led by Karam Singh, an officer of Deputy Central Intelligence Officer rank. Some of the men were on horseback; the rest followed on foot.
On 21 October the party came under fire from Chinese troops positioned on a hill. Ten policemen were killed and seven were injured. It was about three weeks before China handed back the bodies, on 13 November 1959. They were cremated at Hot Springs with full police honours.
Why did that date become a national day?
Because the police leadership chose it as the day to remember every officer who dies on duty.
At their annual conference in January 1960, the Inspectors General of Police of the states decided that 21 October would from then on be observed as Commemoration Day in all police lines in the country. Since then, forces from the central armed police to small district units have held parades and laid wreaths on this day, remembering colleagues killed in the previous year.
What is the National Police Memorial?
A national monument in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, dedicated to police personnel killed in the line of duty since Independence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated it to the nation on 21 October 2018. At its centre is a 30-foot granite cenotaph. Beside it, the Wall of Valour carries the names of the dead, and a museum traces the history of policing in India. It is open to the public every day except Monday. Since it opened, the national ceremony has been held there rather than at individual police headquarters.
What happened this year?
Home Minister Amit Shah presided over the main function on Wednesday.
The programme announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs included a joint parade of the Central Armed Police Forces and Delhi Police, wreaths from senior officers, MPs with a police background and retired directors general, and a final wreath by Shah at the altar to the Hot Springs martyrs. He was also to flag off a motorcycle rally of about 90 riders from northern states and central forces, under the theme “Fight Against Drugs”, bound for the Ekta Parade at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat on 31 October.
The observance continues until 30 October, with visits by martyrs’ families to the memorial, band displays, a Run for Martyrs, blood donation camps and children’s essay and painting competitions. State police forces hold their own programmes over the same days.
Why does it still matter?
Because the day is about more than one ambush. Hot Springs is the reason for the date, but forces use it to remember every colleague lost since the last one, and the memorial’s Wall of Valour keeps adding names. The ten men of 1959 were policemen doing a soldier’s job on a remote border. The day asks the country to remember that police officers, too, are sent into danger on its behalf.