Police Commemoration Day 2026 Honours Hot Springs Martyrs

India observes Police Commemoration Day on 21 October every year. The Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah will lead the homage at the National Police Memorial in New Delhi on Wednesday, 21 October 2026.

Why the day falls on 21 October

The date goes back to 1959. On that day an Indian police patrol was ambushed by heavily armed Chinese troops at Hot Springs in Ladakh, and ten policemen died defending the position. Police forces across the country have since kept 21 October as the day to remember them, and with them every police officer who has died in the line of duty.

A rally against drugs

At the memorial the Home Minister will flag off a motorcycle rally carrying the theme Fight Against Drugs. About 90 riders will set out, drawn from the police of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, from the Central Armed Police Forces (CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB, ITBP and NSG) and from central police organisations such as the RPF, NDRF and NIA. Riders from every state and union territory will converge on Ekta Nagar in Gujarat to join the Ekta Parade on 31 October 2026.

The memorial itself

The National Police Memorial stands at Chanakyapuri in the capital and was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Police Commemoration Day in 2018. It has three parts. The central sculpture is a granite monolith 30 feet tall, meant to stand for the strength and selfless service of police personnel. The Wall of Valour carries the engraved names of those killed on duty since Independence. The museum is built as an evolving exhibition on the history of policing in India. The memorial is open to visitors on every day except Monday, and the Central Armed Police Forces hold a band display, parade and retreat ceremony there on Saturday and Sunday evenings, beginning an hour before sunset.

How the day will be marked

The main ceremony features a joint parade of the Central Armed Police Forces and Delhi Police, with the Home Minister presiding, addressing the gathering and laying the closing wreath at the altar dedicated to the Hot Springs martyrs. Doordarshan will telecast the ceremony, All India Radio will cover it and police websites will carry a webcast. Commemorative programmes run at the memorial from 22 to 30 October, among them visits by the families of martyrs, police band displays, a Run for Martyrs, blood donation camps and essay and painting competitions for children.