Police Commemoration Day Observed on 21 October in Memory of the 1959 Hot Springs Ambush in Ladakh

21 October 2026National

Police Commemoration Day was observed across India on 21 October 2026 in memory of police personnel who died in the line of duty. The day marks the 1959 Hot Springs incident in Ladakh, when a Central Reserve Police Force patrol was ambushed by Chinese troops; ten CRPF personnel were killed and seven taken prisoner. The National Police Memorial at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, dedicated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 21 October 2018, hosts the national ceremony, where the names of police personnel who died during the preceding year are read out. The same date is also observed as Azad Hind Government Foundation Day.

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The CRPF was raised in 1939 as the Crown Representative's Police and is India's largest central armed police force, headquartered in New Delhi | The National Police Memorial at Chanakyapuri has a 30-foot black granite central sculpture and a Wall of Valour | Police is a State subject under Entry 2 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution

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