Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The families of only five out of the 23 Madhya Pradesh policemen martyred in the line of duty over the past one year have been considered eligible for Rs one crore compensation. What will happen in the other cases remains uncertain.  

The state government seems have two different yardsticks for policemen who lay down their lives in line of duty as while families of some martyred cops are awarded compensation of Rs one crore, there are others who merely get Rs one lakh. The process and the basis of the pick and choose is entirely opaque.

The names of martyred policemen are made public every year on October 21 by the Director General of Police at the Police Commemoration Day Parade in Bhopal.The Governor pays tributes to the martyred officers and jawans at the event. This year, the list of martyred policemen to be read out at the Police Commemoration Day on Monday will include 23 police personnel. All of them were martyred between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024.

They are: Sub-inspectors Ramesh Bhaskare, Vimal Tiwari and Ramlal Azad; Assistant sub-inspectors Rajendra Kumar Khuchu, Mahendra Bagre, Govind Singh Chouhan, Kailash Chandra Sharma, Naresh Kumar Sharma, Santosh Kumar Singh, Maharaj Singh and Sanjay Pandey; head constables Shivpal Kol, Shravan Kumar Rai and Rakesh Kumar Thakur and constables Kranti Kumar Mishra, Manoj Kumrawat, Pooran Lal Irpache, Pankaj Kumar Bhalavi, Uday Sengar, Taamsingh Maravi, Chandrabhan Singh, Upendra Rawat and Ajay Waskel.

In 2017, the then chief minister had announced that the families of martyred policemen would get Rs one crore compensation. However, the decision is being followed only in a few cases and flouted in most. This year, too, of the 23 martyred cops, Rs one crore compensation has been approved only in five cases. The decision has been tekan to prove 1 crore compensation to the kin of the martyred ASIs Govind Singh, Mahendra Bagre and Naresh Kumar Sharma, head constable Rakesh Kumar Thakur, and constable Chandrabhan Singh.

Even here, government approval is pending in two. In the case of other martyred cops, whether their families will get the special compensation remains uncertain. At the 2023 parade, the DGP said that the number of officers and men from the state police who died in the line of duty was 17. They ranked from inspectors to constables.