JAP personnel participate in a tug-of-war at the Raising Day Function in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Jan. 12: Jawans were ready to fight a war of sorts and spectators cheered them on.

The first battalion of the Jharkhand Armed Police-1 showed their might in a tug of war to mark the 129th Raising Day of the battalion.

Divided into two groups of 22 members each, the competition began at 9.30am. To make the battle interesting, retired jawans led by Subedar Dharam Prasad Limbu formed one group while those in service came together as their opponents. Subedar Deepeshwar Chhetri led them.

It was easy to distinguish between them on the battlefield, too. The retired jawans were were in colourful civil clothes while the serving jawans were in their khakis.

On the whistle of state director-general of police V.D. Ram, the two groups began tugging at the rope. Here experience proved handy and within 30 seconds, the retired jawans were declared the winners.

The spectators, including several IPS officers and family members of JAP jawans, had a fun time cheering their men on. “Old is gold,” a young lady from the Nepal House was heard saying when the retired JAP jawans won the contest.

Earlier in the day, children presented a cultural programme while the jawans participated in a march past.

JAP-1 commandant Tadasha Mishra highlighted the glorious history of the battalion.

“The battalion was honoured with Purvi Sitara Medal after the 1971 war and it has worked in Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland and Dehra Dun.

It has provided weapon training to the Nefa tribe of Assam and is now busy fighting Naxalites in the state. Four companies of the battalion are providing security to VIPs of the state,” she said.

The battalion was raised in 1880 with the name of New Reserve Police Force.

It became Bengal Military Police in 1892. In 1905, it was named the Gorkha Military Police. And after Independence, it was called the Bihar Military Police (BMP). Recently in 2000, it was renamed the Jharkhand Armed Police-1, she said.

But several JAP-1 jawans, deployed elsewhere on duty, were missing from the programme.

“All JAP-1 jawans should have been present on the raising day. From next time, I will ensure their presence. After all, they also have right to celebrate Raising Day of their battalion,” Ram said.