Police Memorial at Hot Springs…

Police Memorial at Hot Springs…

A valiant tale of brave policemen in Ladakh

Vivek Kumar Pandey

Few incidents shape us as a person, as a society and as a nation. For our country, which got independence in 1947 and which was in the midst of transformation in almost all spheres was shocked to hear the sacrifice of 10 courageous Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the year 1959. It is one among the stories of the brave hearts of the Police fraternity which changed the horizon of the way Policemen in the country were earlier thought of.

 Not many people knowing that it was the Police personnel who were responsible for manning the 2,500 Kms long northern borders of India with Tibet until the autumn of 1959. At a height of 15,300 feet above the sea level in the month of October in sub zero temperatures at Hot Springs in Ladakh, 10 policemen were martyred in an unequal combat with heavily armed Chinese Forces. 

 It all started in the mid of 1959 but the tension grew in the early September when a patrol party comprising of police personnel was captured east of Chushul by the Chinese and released in the beginning of October. It was a time when the nearest Army Garrison was based in Leh (Ladakh). The only units available for the Indian Government to use to project force quickly were the ITBF and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) units in the area. As a consequence, the two forces got orders from the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 22 September, 1959 to establish new posts right at the Chinese occupation line in Ladakh. For all intents and purposes the jurisdiction of the operation was given to the ITBF units under Sub-Inspector Karam Singh and 40 CRPF personnel deputed to the IBTF under Sh S. P. Tyagi, Coy Commander. The first outpost was supposed to be at a place called Hot Springs.

On 20 October 1959, three reconnaissance (Recce) parties were launched from Hot Springs in North Eastern Ladakh in preparation for further movement of an Indian expedition which was on its way to Lanak La. While members of two parties returned to Hot Springs by the afternoon of that day, the third one comprising of two Police Constables namely Sonam Dorjey, Mohd Khalil and a local did not return. Karam Singh sent out a larger team of ten policemen to go out and look for the three lost men who returned at 2300 hours on that same night without getting any clue about the missing party. But interestingly, they had discovered hoof -prints on the ground which was proof of Chinese soldiers presence in the area.

 At 0700 hours the next morning, on the fateful day of 21 October, 1959, Karam Singh and S. P. Tyagi led a team of around twenty policemen armed with bolt action rifles in search of the missing policemen on ponies. The rest of the force was ordered to follow behind on foot. They reached the point of the hoof –prints, dismounted and awaited the arrival of the main force. On the arrival of the main party, it was decided that Tyagi would stay behind and command this larger force while Karam Singh and his small group of twenty would follow the tracks and see if they led to the Chinese intruders in that sector. Because of the hill feature along the bank of the Chang Chenmo River, where the hoof –prints continued, the two parties lost contact. Suddenly, a Chinese officer was spotted on this hill overlooking both the teams as he waved to Karam Singh to raise their hands and surrender. It was the start of a bloody face off.

 The Chinese had ambushed the entire force of Indian policemen. Now, the Chinese were at an elevated position in fortified bunkers and trenches and armed with grenades and heavy machine guns looking down on exposed Police personnel. But, the brave CRPF men were not ruffled by this show of force. Karam Singh lifted a handful of soil from the ground below where he stood to gesture to the chinese officer that this was Indian soil.

 Apparently, the Chinese officer did the same. Such back and forth gestures went on for three hours after which the Chinese officer disappeared from view a moment before a big boulder rolled down from one of the Chinese bunkers higher up on the hill. A few seconds later, there was a volley of fire coming from the hill above forcing the CRPF men below to scramble for cover. Moments later, Chinese positions on a nearby hill, so far undiscovered, also opened fire. Chinese heavy machine guns joined the fray as they poured fire on the river bank below. Constable Ali Raza managed to scape from the Chinese gunfire to ran back and reported to the main group under Tyagi as to what had been happening. But Tyagi’s group was also pinned down due to heavy volume of fire by Chinese forces. 

The CRPF men who suffered casualties, fought bravely and killed many Chinese soldiers in the gun battle. Unfortunately, due to fire sounds all around, ponies and yaks of the CRPF party carrying ammunition etc ran away and fighting with left out bullets became very difficult indeed.

 In the massacre happened in the firing by the Chinese forces, ten CRPF men laid their lives and nine were wounded. The main force under Tyagi was forced to retreat and their attempts to recover the bodies of the dead CRPF men later in the night went in vain since many of the forty men under his command had also been wounded to some degree or another. The Chinese had still dominated the hill above the river bank which they continued to hold even on the 22 October. When Tyagi was finally ordered to retrieve, his remaining force returned back to Tsogstsalu. Four of the more seriously injured policemen under Tyagi were airlifted to Srinagar on 1 November and wereplaced in a Military Hospital there.

For Karam Singh and the other prisoners the tragedy had just begun. Five of them were made to carry the the injured Constable Makhan Lal. Karam Singh and party carried Makhan till few distance but the Chinese later on asked them to leave Constable Makhan Lal. This was the last time when bullet wounded Makhan Lal was last seen and later he was presumed to be martyred. In the captivity, Karam Singh and 5 other men were all put together in a pit six feet deep, seven feet wide and fifteen feet long, normally used for storing vegetables. It was covered with a tarpaulin which left several openings through which the ice-cold breezes penetrated. They had to spend the night on the frozen ground without any covering. No water for drinking was provided nor they were permitted to ease themselves during the night and the following day. For the first three or four days, they were given only dry bread to eat. In such inhuman treatment, frostbite had started to set in due to the extreme cold.  On 24 October, Karam Singh was shown the corpses of the Indian policemen killed during the gunfire and asked to identify them. Then for the next many days, he was tortured along with the others to make him admit that the Indians had opened fire and precipitated the skirmish, which he didn’t. The interrogation continued on the 27 and 28 October.

 On 27 October, the Chinese Foreign Ministry informed India and the world that it was prepared to release the captured Indian policemen “at any time”.

On 29 October, along with Karam Singh, his 5 fellow prisoners, and the three earlier captured (2 constables and 1 porter) were released together by the Chinese. The body of Constable Makhan Lal was never returned and remained unacknowledged by the Chinese. The last time he was seen was where the Chinese had forced Karam Singh and his men to leave his wounded body on the bank of the Chang Chenmo River under the protection of Chinese soldiers. He was most likely neglected and died of his wounds but there are no confirmations of this ruthless act on the part of the Chinese.

New Delhi got the news of the surrender of Karam Singh and his group of survivors under devastating Chinese fire on 22 October, a day after the tragedy. On 23 October, the Ministry of External Affairs submitted a note of protest to the Chinese Ambassador in Delhi. However, on the inside, Prime Minister Nehru and the Army Commanders had immediately come to realize that the region could not be left to the IB and police alone, and army definitely needed to step in. Two days later, from October 25 onwards, the Indian outposts in the region began receiving reinforcements and medical assistance through field units and other garrisons.

 The bodies of the brave CRPF men were returned by the Chinese at the Sino-Indian border on November 13, 1959. At 8:00 AM on November 14, 1959, the bodies of the CRPF men were cremated with full police honors at Hot Springs. Karam Singh received a national hero’s welcome. He was awarded the President’s Police Medal by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru himself.

The annual conference of Inspectors General of Police of states and Union Territories held in January 1960 decided that 21 October would, henceforth, be observed as Commemoration Day in all Police Lines throughout India to mark the memory of these gallant men who were killed in Ladakh and to mark the memory of these gallant men who were killed in Ladakh and all other police personnel killed on duty during the year.  It was also decided to erect a memorial at Hot Springs. Every year, members of police forces from different parts of the country trek to Hot Springs Martyr’s Memorial to pay homage to those gallant martyrs.

 Henceforth, the day of this gallant sacrifice (21 October) is now commemorated as Martyrs’ Day by the Police organizations all over India. It is a fitting tribute to those brave men who laid down their lives in defense of the country and their comrades who suffered under extraordinary conditions at the hands of the regular Chinese soldiers almost fifty nine years ago. The names of martyrs of the last year read out on the Day.

 Since independence, 34,418 police personnel have lost their lives while protecting the country. In the past one year, from September 2016 to August 2017, 383 police personnel had died.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) organizes the Police Commemoration Day tribute program in New Delhi as well. National Police Martyr’s Memorial has been constructed in Chanakyapuri where Hon’ble Union Home Minister visit to pay floral tribute to the martyrs on National Police Martyr’s Remembrance Day on 21 October each year. Force flags and representatives of all police forces in the country gather and pay homage to the brave hearts.