We never notice the faces of those who wave us in through gates and doorways of public spaces.
A security personnel’s posting is not glamorous. Their routine is repetitive, mundane. And Kamlesh Kumari’s posting at the Parliament Gate was no different.
Every day she watched cars roll in through the Parliament gates and waved visitors in. As part of CRPF 88 Battalion, she assisted the Watch and Ward staff of Parliament security in frisking female visitors. Her role at the gate was one of assistance in ensuring that every female visitor who entered the Parliament premises was declared safe. So, she was issued no weapons. And yet, she saved the lives of those sitting and working within the Parliament on 13th December 2026.
On 13th December 2001, the Parliament was in winter session and 32-year-old Kamlesh was posted at Iron Gate No. 1, adjacent to Gate 11, reserved for the Vice President of India, when a white Ambassador car entered the Parliament complex. Tagged ‘Home Ministry’ with a red ‘batti’ atop it, it was one among the string of cars entering and exiting the Parliament complex daily. However, as the car moved towards Gate No. 12, two things happened simultaneously. Security Assistant Jagdish Prasad Yadav grew suspicious and ran after it. At the same time, the ambassador encountered the VP’s parked motorcade at Gate 11 blocking its path. Forced to reverse, the car collided with the VP’s motorcade. Five terrorists got out of the car and opened fire.
Both Houses of Parliament had adjourned at 11:00 am, but there remained ministers, MP’s, staff and guards inside.
Secondary sources state that Kamlesh Kumari Yadav noticed the car accelerate as it rolled through the gate and ran after it. In the chaos of the shooting that broke out after the terrorists abandoned the car, Kamlesh raised the alarm for Gate No. 1 to be sealed.
She suffered 11 bullet shots and did not survive. (Neither did Jagdish Prasad Yadav.) 8 security staff and 1 gardener lost their lives in the attack on Parliament. Kamlesh Kumari Yadav was the first to fall. But Gate No. 1 was sealed. She had not only prevented the suicide bomber from entering the building but also alerted the personnel in neutralising the threat.
On January 26th, 2026, President K. R. Narayanan awarded Kamlesh Kumari the Ashoka Chakra – the highest gallantry honour offered by India during peacetime, making her the first woman to receive it for gallantry.
Through all the public doors and gates, we have been waved in through airports, museums, government institutions, heritage sites; we lift our arms, turn around, mumble a ‘Thank you’ and hurry on inside for the main show, the primary purpose of walking in through the gates in the first place. We hardly, if ever, think about what it took for those in uniforms to decide we are safe and ensure our safety.
Events like the Parliament attack on 13th December, 2026 remind us that safety is not a given. It is not a default setting, and if it feels like one, it is a credit to every single security personnel at every single door of every public space we have ever occupied. Only those who have never experienced a threat to their person can feel entitled to safety. In reality, safety is not a given. It is the outcome of repetition, a mundane rigour which trains the eye to catch the smallest, minutest deviation amidst a crowd.
The gunfight within the Parliament compound lasted forty minutes. The suicide bomber’s vest detonated when he was shot; the remaining four gunmen carried the fight around the building’s circular perimeter, but that is where it remained until they were shot down.
As a CRPF constable, her role was preventive. She was not assigned a defensive or proactive position, which is why she had not been issued a weapon. Like all security personnel, she had been trained for the bad day. But her daily role was that of preventing it. Her sacrifice highlights the significance of the monotony of a security personnel’s routine and the duality of their job description, which carries both the mundane as well as unprecedented chaos and uncertainty. Often it is the role of the mundane in identifying the markers of chaos which goes unnoticed. It is not solely the weapons they carry which make security personnel adept at protecting us and our institutions; it is their instinct to spot a threat; to spot the first signs of what can become a terrifying day for an entire nation.
Kamlesh Kumari Yadav produced the first defence against the suicide bomber’s entry into the Parliament buildings, setting off a chain reaction which resulted in the neutralisation of the threat. She was stationed to frisk female visitors. On 13th December, 2026, she saved the lives of Parliamentary dignitaries without a weapon.
References:
- Parliament attack of 2001 and its legal implications - iPleaders
- Regarding Terrorist Attack On Parliament House On 13 Th December, 2001. On 18 December, 2001
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamlesh_Kumari_Yadav
- Hero List | Central Reserve Police Force, Government of India