Kamlesh Kumari was an Indian constable who served with the

Central Reserve Police Force The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police Forces. The CRPF's primary role li ...

(CRPF) and a recipient of the

Ashoka Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

, the highest possible award conferred during peacetime by the Republic of India. Kamlesh Kumari died on 13 December 2001 after successfully preventing terrorist gunmen and a terrorist suicide bomber from reaching

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

during the

2001 Indian Parliament attack The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a terrorist attack on the Parliament of India in New Delhi, India on 13 December 2001. The perpetrators belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) - two Pakistan-raised terrorist organisa ...

Career

Constable Kamlesh Kumari joined the CPRF in 1994 and was first posted with the elite 104

Rapid Action Force The Rapid Action Force (RAF) is a specialised wing of the Central Reserve Police Force of India to deal with riot and crowd control situations. History RAF was raised on 11 December 1991 with headquarters in New Delhi. It became fully oper ...

(RAF) in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

. Soon after, she was posted at the 88 Mahila (Women's) Battalion on 12 July 2001. Kumari became part of Bravo Company, the group tasked with securing Parliament when in session.

13 December 2001

Kamlesh Kumari was posted at Iron Gate No. 1, next to Building Gate No. 11, of the Parliament House. An

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

brand car, bearing the license plate number DL 3C J 1527, drove towards the gate from

Vijay Chowk Vijay may refer to: People *Vijay (name) *Vijay (actor) (born 1974), an Indian Tamil actor *Vijay (director), Kannada film director Fiction * ''Vijay'' (1942 film), a 1942 Indian Hindi film * ''Vijay'' (1988 film), a 1988 Indian Hindi film direc ...

.She was the first security official to approach the car and, realising something was amiss, ran back to her post to seal the gate. The terrorists, with their cover effectively blown and unable to travel further due to Kumari's foresight, opened fire. Eleven bullets struck Kamlesh in the stomach. The attack occurred at 11:50 in the morning. Kamlesh Kumari alertness prevented a suicide bomber among the terrorists from executing their plan; the closing of Gate No. 1 and the alarm raised gave time for other security personnel to take position and neutralize the would-be bomber.

Family

Kamlesh Kumari was survived by two daughters, Jyoti and Shweta and her husband, Avdhesh Kumar. Kamlesh's family hails from Sikanderpur,

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. Kamlesh and her family had earlier lived in Vikaspuri,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Honours

Constable Kamlesh Kumari was posthumously awarded the nation's highest peacetime Gallantry award, the

, by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

in 2002 in honour of her bravery and courage. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee also paid tribute to her. Mohammad Afzal, who was determined to have played a key role as a conspirator in the attack by investigators, was convicted and

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

by the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

. Afzal's family had "camped" in New Delhi with the hope of conveying a mercy petition to then President

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

. In response, Kamlesh's surviving family publicly declared that they would return the

Ashok Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

awarded to her if the President were to accept the petition. As the president neither rejected nor accepted the petition, the families of eight security officials who had been honored for their bravery during the attacks (including Kamlesh's) returned their gallantry medals on 13 December 2006, in protest against the delay in execution of Mohammad Afzal. President

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...

succeeded

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

as President on 25 July 2012. In early 2013, he rejected the petition for clemency. Mohammad Afzal was hanged on 9 February 2013 at

Tihar Jail Tihar Prisons, also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram, is a prison complex in India and the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. Run by Department of Delhi Prisons, Government of Delhi, the prison contains nine central prisons, and is one ...

at approximately 8:00 am IST. On 30 March 2013, the martyrs' families agreed to accept back the gallantry medals which they had returned in 2006.

References

External links