Why Rahul Gandhi’s promise of granting ‘martyr’ status to paramilitary personnel who die on duty, may not stand ground

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After AICC president Rahul Gandhi claimed that he will confer martyr status on slain paramilitary personnel, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said there is no such term as "martyr" or "shaheed" in the Indian Army or police services.

Turns out, he was right. Only a few days ago, the Delhi High Court had junked a plea asking media houses to say 'martyr' instead of 'killed' while referring to CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama IED blast.

The court also noted that any person who lays down his/her life for the country needs no certificate of being declared a martyr.

Technically speaking, a martyr is a person who is killed for reasons pertaining to his/ her set of beliefs. Going by the definition then, a tag of martyr remains subjective as no law mandates conferring such a status.

Back in 2017, the Centre had informed the CIC that no such term in the army or police lexicon. In fact, if a soldier or policeman gets killed in action, they are referred to as battle or operations casualty.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in 2016, had informed the Lok Sabha that the term martyr is not used for casualties in the Indian armed forces.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said: "No such term is used in reference to the Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles personnel who get killed in action or in any operation."

So, why are paramilitary officers demanding the status of martyrs for those killed on duty?

Soldiers killed while on duty have for years been usually referred to as martyrs, but the same didn’t apply to para force personnel. The government, however, has maintained that no notification has been issued for Indian Army, CAPF or police personnel, making it a must to call them martyrs.

The government stance was validated by Home Ministry data records that stated 546 police and paramilitary personnel lost their lives on duty from September 2011 to August 2015. The status of a martyr was accorded to none in this case either.

The whole controversy surrounding the status was raked up by Rashtriya Janta Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav who took jibes at the BJP after the Pulwama attack saying the government refers to paramilitary (CRPF, BSP, ITBP etc) soldiers as martyrs, but it remains unofficial.

Notably, according to a PTI report, the Ministry of Home Affairs had given in-principle approval to confer martyr status to men of paramilitary forces who are killed in the line of duty. In 2018, the government had told the Delhi High Court that talks to grant martyr status were being considered.

Reportedly, the seventh Central Pay Commission also had pushed for the same. Interestingly, the Delhi High Court too had asked concerned authorities to consider the recommendation. The petition sought a direction to the Centre and Defence Ministry to grant martyr status to paramilitary and policemen, on par with the Indian Armed Forces.

The catch, however, remains that there is no set rule mandating the nomenclature for those in the armed forces if killed in line of duty, either.