Personnel who succumbed to virus are martyrs, says top cop

BENGALURU: An exhibition of portraits of 85 police personnel who died of Covid-19, which they caught while performing their duties, and 17 others who died in the line of duty will be put up at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath on Thursday to mark Police Martyrs Day.
The names of the 17 police personnel from Karnataka, who had died while performing their duties between 2019 and 2020 were announced at Police Commemoration Ceremony held at Martyr’s Garden, City Armed Reserve headquarters, Mysuru Road on Wednesday.
Praveen Sood, director general and inspector general of police, told TOI that he and the rest of force considers the 85 personnel who died of Covid-19 as martyrs. “These 85 police officials died while carrying out their duties and they are nothing but martyrs,” Sood said. “Though their names were not included in the martyrs list, which comprised 254 names from across the country, we consider them as martyrs. To mark their sacrifice, we will exhibit their photos along with 17 others at Chitrakala Parishath on Thursday.”
Due to Covid-19, Commemoration Day ceremony at CAR grounds was a low-key affair. Chief minister BS Yediyurappa inaugurated the ceremony, but unlike previous years, retired police officials and kin of martyrs from the city were not invited.
Till date, a total of 85 police personnel from different parts of Karnataka have died due to Covid-19. As many as 9,209 tested positive and while 7,107 have recovered and been discharged from hospital, 2,107 are still undergoing treatment.