Shesh Paul Vaid, also known as S. P. Vaid, is an Indian police officer and former Director General of Police (DGP) of Jammu & Kashmir from 31 December 2016 till 6 September 2018.

Personal life

Vaid was born and raised in the Mahanpur town of Kathua district in the

Jammu Division The Jammu division (; ) is a Divisions of India, revenue and administrative division of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to t ...

of the erstwhile

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

of Jammu and Kashmir in 1959 into a

Dogra __NOTOC__ Dogras, or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic community of Pakistan and India. Dogra, Dogras or Dogri may also refer to: * Dogra dynasty, a Hindu dynasty of Kashmir * Dogri language, a language spoken by Dogras and other ethnic commu ...

family. Vaid graduated in

Veterinary Science Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

(B.V.Sc) from Madras Veterinary College in the

Vepery Vepery is a neighbourhood in the north of Chennai, India. Abutting the transportation hub of Park Town, Chennai, Park Town, the neighbourhood covers a rectangular area north of the Poonamallee High Road. History Vepery is among those oldest nei ...

neighbourhood of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and then from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

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. He qualified for the

Civil Services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and was allotted the

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

(IPS) on 25 August 1986 with Jammu and Kashmir cadre. Vaid is married to Bharti Vaid, an

Indian Information Service The Indian Information Service (IIS) () is the central civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India. Indian Information Service officers are the media managers of the ...

officer. They have a daughter, Shivangi.

Career

From 1988 to 1990, he was the

Additional Superintendent of Police Additional Superintendent of Police (abbreviated as Addl. SP or Addl. DCP) or Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, is a rank in Indian police forces. The officer holding this rank can be from the Indian Police Service (IPS) or from respec ...

in Badgam and was promoted as Superintendent in the same district in 1990, the year when he faced maximum militant attacks. He also topped the International Commanders' programme at Police staff College at UK. In the course of his career, he has served as Deputy Inspector General of Police of

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

, as Inspector General (Crime), IGP ( Home Guards and

Civil Defence Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, ...

), as Inspector General Modernisation Police Headquarters, as

Inspector General of Police An inspector-general of police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most ...

of Jammu, as IGP Crime and

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to roa ...

(2008) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Traffic Jammu & Kashmir. In 2009, he was sent on deputation to

Bureau of Police Research and Development The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) was set up on the 28 August 1970 to further the objectives of the Government of India regarding the modernisation of Indian Police Service, police forces. It has since evolved into a multi ...

(BPR&D) in New Delhi where he was initially posted as Director of Special Policing, then as Director of

Training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

and in the last few months of his deputation as the Director of

Administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. In February 2010, Dr. S P Vaid was also appointed as the new Secretary of Central Indian Police Service Association (CIPSA) as an additional central charge besides his assignment in Bureau of Police Research & Development. in June 2011, Dr Vaid was promoted to the senior Indian police rank of Additional Director General of Police. Consequently, he returned to his parent cadre in September 2011and in November 2011, the Jammu and Kashmir State Cabinet ordered the posting of Vaid as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP),

Headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

(PHQ). On 3 March 2016, Vaid was promoted to the grade of Director General (DG), and was subsequently appointed as Director General of Police (Prisons). On 8 September 2016, Vaid was transferred and posted as Special DG (Coordination and Law & Order). The post of Special D.G Coordination held by S.K Mishra had been re-designated as Special DG (Coordination and Law & Order) till held by the officer. On 28 December 2016, The State Cabinet confirmed the name of S.P. Vaid as new Director General of Police (DGP) of Jammu and Kashmir Police. The decision was taken in the State Cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu. On 31 December 2016, Vaid took over the charge of Director General of Police from K. Rajendra Kumar.

Notable contributions to law and order in Kashmir

Vaid has played a role in many notable events in the state and made attempts to facilitate the improvement of law and order and police-community relations. * In December 1999 Vaid supervised the release from Kot Bhalwal jail of

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

mujaheddin leader and the founder of the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, Azhar Masood, who was exchanged for passengers on the hijacked

Indian Airlines Flight 814 Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 that was Aircraft hijacking, hijacked on 24 December 1999 by five members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The passenger flight, en route from Tribhuvan Internat ...

(IC-814). *On 29 January 2002, there was a specific information that a group of Al-Badr militants were waiting for other terrorist associates to conduct a meeting to plan subversive activities in

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

. Vaid, then DIG of Police Range Srinagar planned a joint operation along with BSF and J&K Police SOG to apprehend the militants. The same night Vaid got the area cordoned off with the help of BSF/SOG and local police so as to ensure that militants do not escape during night taking the advantage of darkness. The held up militants tried to take the BSF personnel hostage who were trapped inside but an assault was launched by Vaid along with other officers and in the process managed to rescue one BSF Jawan. In an official statement from the President's Secretariat, the President of India awarded Vaid the President's Police Medal for gallantry: *In August 2006 the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported about Vaid's involvement in a project with state-owned

Bharat Petroleum Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited is an Indian public sector oil and gas company, headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's second-largest government-owned downstream oil producer, whose operations are overseen by the Ministry of Petroleum and ...

to employ family members of the approximately 1,000 Jammu and Kashmir policemen who have died fighting separatists. *In December 2006, as IGP Jammu, Vaid supervised the operation against the militants and regained control of the Kot Bhalwal prison following seven-hour clashes with more than 300 prisoners after the situation within the jail went out of control. *Vaid served as a chairman of the session, "Regional Cooperation to Fight Terrorism", at the March 2009 Asia Pacific Regional Conference of The World Federation of United Nations Associations.Conference programme
/ref> *In December 2011, Vaid inaugurated 2nd Police

Martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

's Memorial North Zone Inter Club T-20 Cricket Championship 2011–12 in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. This tournament is said to have served the dual purpose of better Police-Public relations and honour to Martyr's families. *In the Burhan aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander, Burhan Wani in 2016, law and order situation in the Valley had spiralled out of control and the state government, while taking a serious note of it, shifted Vaid from the position of DG (prisons) and to Special DG (Law and order). After taking over the charge, Vaid camped in the Kashmir region and initiated various measures to make optimum use of the force so as to check rising casualties of both civilians and security forces through police-public interaction programmes in almost all districts of the Valley. Vaid has been credited for playing an important role in restoring peace and normalcy in the valley.

Assassination attempts

While Deputy Inspector General of Police, Baramulla range in the

Kashmir Valley The Kashmir Valley, also known as the Vale of Kashmir, is an intermontane valley in northern Jammu and Kashmir, a region in Indian-administered Kashmir.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcont ...

, Vaid suffered a severe hand injury in March 1999 when 25 militants ambushed his car and two escort

gypsies {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , ...

on the national highway, on his way to Baramulla after a review meeting at

where he was officiating as Inspector General. The militants, aware that his car was bullet-proof, hurled hand-grenades and used powerful universal machine guns which pierce through bullet-proof glass, instead of the commonly used

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

s. In 1990, while Superintendent in Badgam, Vaid was accompanying his wife along with their month-old daughter from

Gulmarg Gulmarg (), known as Gulmarag (; in Kashmiri language, Kashmiri), is a town, hill station, tourist destination, skiing destination, and a notified area committee in the Baramulla district of the northern Kashmir Valley of the Indian union terri ...

to Badgam. Militants attacked the convoy killing two army men in the vehicle in front of his car. The apprehended militants later admitted that the attack was meant to assassinate him.

Positions held

References