First in 47 years: No operational fatality in CRPF in an entire year

CRPF records a year without operational fatalities for the first time in 47 years, with its last such death reported on October 30, 2025 NEW DELHI: CRPF has completed a year without a single operational fatality for the first time in 47 years, despite high-risk deployments across Jammu & Kashmir, Left-wing extremism-hit areas and Manipur."A significant milestone in the history of CRPF - 12 consecutive months have passed without any operational fatality, the last operational fatality being on Oct 30, 2025," CRPF DG G P Singh said Monday. He credited the milestone to modern hardware, better training, strategic planning and high-speed evacuation of injured personnel to medical facilities.CRPF personnel led the battle against LWE in 2026, hitting Maoists in pocket boroughs and eliminating their leadership. In Manipur, CRPF is deployed since violence broke out there in 2023. The state continues to face bouts of violence, many over the past one year..Since 1947, 2,268 CRPF men have been killed in operations, averaging over 28 fatalities a year. The highest toll was 143 in 2010, largely due to a Maoist ambush that killed 75 personnel. A CRPF official attributed zero fatalities to course-correction. Operations are planned, personnel get protective gear, and routine movements in high-risk areas are treated like operational movements. Also, 1.5 times the required force is deployed. "There was not a single casualty during Op Black Forest in Kareguttalu Hills last year, even as 21 Naxalites were killed," he added.A post-analysis found that three-fourths to four-fifths of fatalities occur days after injury. Timely medical care could prevent such deaths, the officer said, adding that air ambulances take injured personnel to advanced hospitals.This is the sixth time CRPF has recorded nil fatal casualties. The last was 24 months between Feb 1977 and Jan 1979. Bharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.