Slain constable among 20 selected for Police Medal

A slain constable is among 20 Delhi Police personnel chosen to be conferred the Police Medal on the occasion of the Republic Day this year.

Constable Bijender had died in 2012 while holding on to a youth involved in a stabbing incident at GB Road.

There is, however, not a single woman police personnel in the list that includes an officer who handled the law and order situation in the public movement following the 2012 gang-rape case and another who risked his life to defuse a bomb at a railway station.

Twenty three-year-old Bijender, along with his colleagues Sandeep and Baljeet, were posted outside a brothel at GB Road on the night of September 10 in 2012 when they suddenly noticed a badly injured man running towards them.

The victim who had been stabbed in his neck pointed to four youths fleeing. A brief chase led to Bijender nabbing one suspect Aakash. His accomplices stopped fleeing and began grappling with Bijender in a bid to free Aakash from the grip.

In the meantime, Sandeep nabbed the fourth accomplice Suraj who pulled out a knife and stabbed the constable in the face. The injury forced Sandeep to loosen his grip after which Suraj rushed towards Bijender and stabbed him in his left chest.

That, however, did not deter Bijender from holding on to Aakash. Help in the form of two more constables soon arrived and all the four suspects were nabbed. The two injured constables were rushed to a hospital where Bijender was brought dead.

The police on Sunday said Bijender was being posthumously awarded the Police Medal for gallantry.

Apart from Bijender, two senior officers have been awarded the Police Medal for distinguished service. Dependra Pathak, Joint Commissioner of Police (Police Headquarters) and Hari Mohan Meena, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rashtrapati Bhavan), are being conferred the award.
Among other things, Meena is credited with handling law and order in “communally sensitive areas” of east Delhi’s Seelampur.

Recipients of the Police Medal for meritorious service include DCP Sanjay Kumar Tyagi and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bhola Ram Mann.

“As Additional DCP, New Delhi District, he (Tyagi) handled all the law and order situations in a very efficient manner, especially during Nirbhaya movement of 2010,” the police said about Tyagi.

Mann, meanwhile, had a few years ago detected a bomb at New Delhi Railway station and defused it while risking his life.
DH News Service