While as many as 347 police personnel in the country have been awarded gallantry medals on the occasion of India's 76th Independence Day, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has won 108 of these medals, the most among states and union territories.

CRPF personnel have distinguished themselves by winning 109 medals, led by DG Kuldip Singh,  the most among central armed police forces and other security forces.

Among the personnel receiving Gallantry Awards, 109 are from CRPF, 108 are from Jammu and Kashmir Police, 19 are from BSF, 42 are from Maharashtra, and 15 are from Chhattisgarh.

Jammu and Kashmir police and the CRPF have been involved in dozens of counter-terrorism and left-wing extremism operations.

As many as 204 personnel are being awarded for their gallant action in Jammu and Kashmir, 80 personnel for their gallant action in Left Wing Extremism affected areas and 14 personnel for their gallant action in the North-East Region, according to a list released by the ministry of home affairs.

Ghulam Rasool Bhat, Jatinder Singh, Faiz Mohd, and Allah Din Khatana of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry for their counter-terrorism operation on March 23, 2021 in Shopian district that saw protests from locals. The terrorist were neutralised in a complex hours-long operation.

During the operation, "a huge number of miscreants had gathered from nearby villages and started pelting stones on security forces followed by sloganeering against them," reads the citation.

"These teams displayed utmost tolerance and kept the miscreants at bay. In this process, a few men of the law & order team got minor injuries. After thorough search, bodies of 04 terrorist of LeT outfit and their arms/ammunition were recovered from the site and the operation was called-off.