Assistant Commandant Deepak Singh and Head Constable Kanwar Singh of ITBP have received Police medals for Gallantry.
Two soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police received Police medals for Gallantry this year for guarding the border at one of the most crucial and delicate junctures in 2014. In the process, they created history. For the first time border guarding efforts of soldiers at peacetime were recognised.
Assistant Commandant Deepak Singh and Head Constable Kanwar Singh posted at the Chebzi area of Ladakh in September 2014, days before Chinese President Xi Jinping's first visit to India.
New Delhi was busy working out its strategy. It was the first big diplomatic initiative for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had taken over a few months ago.
Around noon on September 8, nine days before President Jinping's visit, a foot patrol of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police was moving slowly along India-China border. The place was the barren heights Chebzi in south-eastern Ladakh, often described as the most quiet but most disputed border in the world. The temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius.
As they made their way through mountain tracks, they noticed a huge contingent of the Chinese People Liberation soldiers mobbing in rapidly towards Chebzi. They had heavy earth movers, bulldozers and road building equipment.
The border in this sector is disputed with India and China having varying claims. Chebzi, however, is controlled by the India. The PLA's plan was to construct a road from Chebzi to Point 30R.
The ITBP patrol was led by Assistant Commandant Deepak Singh. With him was Head Constable Kanwar Singh. After a quick discussion, the two men decided form a human wall and block the Chinese.
They asked for reinforcements. And then the 20-odd men stood firm, till 80 others rushed in from the nearby camp.
The stand-off at Chebzi continued through President Jinping's two-day visit, ending only on September 30. Prime Minister Modi officially raised the issue with President Xi.
The Chinese justified the road building because India had built a drain in Demchok sector under the MNREGA scheme.
India had the edge during the stand-off because of what Assistant Commandant Singh and Head Constable Kanwar Singh's decision form a human wall and block the PLA in the initial hours.