Toman Kumar from CRPF.
Credit: X/@GCRAIPURU
New Delhi: Toman Kumar, the gold-medal winner at the World Archery Para Championships being held in South Korea, etched his success path from the scratch after he suffered a deadly IED blast injury in 2022 during an anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh.
The 30-year-old constable in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has won seven medals till now in international and national para archery tournaments.
Toman was part of a CRPF unit that was assigned to sanitise a "new target area" in the south Bastar area, one of the worst Naxal violence-affected areas in the country, in February, 2022 when a heavy gunfire ensued between the troops and Naxals.
An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast trapped Toman who was one among the two scouts of the patrol party.
He was seriously injured and had to undergo amputation of his left leg on February 12, 2002, a senior CRPF officer told PTI.
"Toman Kumar joined the CRPF in 2017 and he suffered the extreme trauma and pain of losing a body part when he was just 26 years old and had spent five years in the job. But he never looked back," he said.
He joined a special centre of the force, National Centre for Divyang Empowerment (NCDE), that was opened in 2020 for troops who suffer physical disability during high-risk operations, the officer said.
The NCDE is located in Rangareddy district of Telangana.
Toman began his para archery practice in November 2023 as part of the fifth batch of the skill-development course of the NCDE and he was inducted into the central (main) team of the CRPF a year later in September 2024, he said.
The brave man has participated in four international tournaments, including the one taking place in Gwangju, apart from three national events.
"He has shown that one can continue to serve the country in different ways and even after losing the most valuable part of oneself," another officer said.
The CRPF is the world's largest paramilitary force with about 3.25 lakh personnel. It is the mainstay for internal security duties in the country including conduct of anti-Naxal operations apart from counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency tasks.
According to officials, at least 46 CRPF personnel have lost their limbs in Naxal-triggered IED explosions since 2016.