https://indianmasterminds.com

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

How Braving Bullets and Fires, IPS Officer Mamta Singh Rescued 2500+ People from A Temple in Nuh

ADGP Mamta Singh successfully rescued people trapped inside a Shiva temple during the Nuh violence Supreme Court has praised her contribution to many investigations by the Human Rights Commission She is also the recipient of a President’s medal
Indian Masterminds Stories

This is not a Hollywood thriller where super heroes rescue people and take them to safe spots. It is actually a real scene from Nuh in Haryana on 31 July, when ADGP Mamta Singh and her team’s heroics saved more than 2500 people holed up inside a temple, from rioters. Between stone-pelting and raining of bullets, the police team under the leadership of Ms. Mamta Singh did an excellent job of protecting the people and taking them to a safe place, earning praise from every corner of the country.

Although things have almost returned to normal in Nuh and the situation is under control, that fateful day will be remembered by the survivors as a day of horror.

Recalling the incident in an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, 1996 batch IPS officer Mamta Singh, who is ADGP, Law & Order, said that she still cannot forget the traumatized faces of the women and children.

She said that God was by her side that day and that is why they somehow managed to save those people, as she recounted the whole story in detail.

IPS Mamta Singh

REACHED TEMPLE WITH DIFFICULTY

When rioting started on 31 July, news of violence started coming in from various places. Police headquarters got the news that people are trapped in the Shiva temple of Nalhar. It was not known then that such a large number of people were trapped there. At that time, Ms. Singh took whatever force was available with her and started towards the temple. Some policemen, including few from Gurugram, along with SP Palwal, Lokendra Singh (Nuh SP Varun Singla was on leave), went with her. Reaching there was not at all easy as there were obstructions at many places.

Ms. Singh said, “There was firing and stone pelting all along the way. Controlling all that somehow I reached a spot, about 500 meters away from the main temple. On reaching there, the scene was even more horrifying. The roads leading to the temple were blocked. Arson was being carried out and stone pelting was going on.”

Famous Shiva Temple at Nuh which traces its association to the Pandava of Mahabharata

She understood that the temple cannot be reached through the main road. So the team decided to reach the temple through a rough road through the fields. But, on getting wind of the presence of the police, the rioters increased their firing. Suddenly, the stone pelting also increased and all around only burning fires were visible. Taking advantage of the situation, the rioters set all the vehicles of devotees on fire.

Ms. Singh said, “There are mountains all around the temple. That’s why the rioters had found a place to hide. It was clearly visible that a large number of people had assembled there and they started firing, hiding in the mountains and bushes. Seeing this situation, I gave clear instructions to my team that now they should start burst firing.”

LOCKED PEOPLE INSIDE

The police team locked the people present in the temple premises in rooms and halls, because rioters were firing wherever any crowd was visible. So the police team covered the place by first removing the crowd and then moved to retaliatory action. “At that time we were waiting for more force to come, but it was getting dark fast. That’s why we made an evacuation plan. Because, in the dark, the rioters would have taken the chance to enter the temple. And, if that had happened, the situation would have gone out of our hands,” the officer said.

Cars set on fire by Rioters

STARTED EVACUATING

For evacuation, groups of women and children and men were formed. Everyone was very scared. That’s why no one was ready to come out even after being asked repeatedly by the police. So, to give the people confidence, Ms. Singh started walking out, saying to the people, “I will be at the front and will walk ahead. No one needs to be afraid.”

She went forward with a group and SP Lokendra Singh stayed in the temple with the remaining people. This was done as taking everyone out together was a big risk. All this while, vehicles were being burnt. Even on the road leading towards the temple, for 500 meters, burnt CNG vehicles were bursting every now and then. And the police had only 3 buses and few smaller vehicles at that time.

A road leading towards the Nalhar Shiva Temple in Nuh, remains with debris of vehicles (Credit: Social Media/Nikita Jain)

NARROW ESCAPE

The burning vehicles were removed from the route with the help of JCB. A plan was made to take the people through the rough roads of fields to the road. As Ms. Singh was trying to reach the road with the first group, they had a narrow escape. As soon as the rioters noticed that people were being taken out of the temple to the road, they started firing towards the road. A bullet went past Ms. Singh very closely and lodged into a car parked nearby. There was total chaos at that time, but, somehow, they all managed to escape. Within one to two hours, all the devotees were taken out of the temple and made to sit in vehicles. Meanwhile the JCB came and cleared the road. And then everyone was whisked away in the vehicles to safety.

Ms. Singh said, “The situation was so worse that even when people were boarding the last bus and the bus was leaving the spot, firing was going. Really, it was a horrific experience for everyone. We did burst firing and more than 500 rounds of firing.”

BRAVED BULLETS AND FIRES

Till now, 156 people have been arrested in Nuh and 286 in the whole of Haryana. The rioting was not localized to just one place. First, it started at Adbar Chowk in Nuh, where a policeman also got shot in the stomach. Here, a crowd of more than 2-2.5 thousand people was pelting stones. But when the police reached, firing also started and a policeman got shot. The police first handled the situation at the Chowk, then moved towards Tiranga Park where rioters were lathi-charged. Then, police took over the situation at Nalhar turn.

Only after that, police started moving towards the temple where the mob had burnt all the vehicles within the range of 500 meters of the temple. And, then they took charge of the situation and managed to evacuate all the people holed up inside the temple to safety amidst a hail of bullets and stones, and fiercely burning fires all around.


Indian Masterminds Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS
IAS Prasanth N
Controversy Deepens Over IAS Officer Prasanth’s Suspension Extension Despite Panel Clearance
Indian Bureaucracy News Latest
ACC Extends Central Deputation Tenures of Ajai Kumar Verma and Kushagra Mittal
Screenshot 2025-06-21 202516
CM Yogi Leads International Yoga Day Celebrations in Gorakhpur
Indian PSUs Yoga Day 2025
Indian PSUs Lead the Way: Massive Participation Marks 11th International Yoga Day Across Public Sector
Jammu&Kashmir
Jammu & Kashmir: 27 Officers Promoted to Time Scale of JKAS; Safiya Abdullah Among Them - Check Order Here
Uttar Pradesh UP Government
Uttar Pradesh Launches ‘Urban Green Policy’ to Combat Climate Change and Promote Sustainable Development
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-21 at 8.03
Yoga for One Earth, One Health: NLC India Celebrates 11th International Yoga Day with 10,000 Participants in Neyveli
Rajasthan-police-resized
Bikaner Traffic Cops in Bikaner Try to Extort Bribe—Only to Find Their 'Victim' Is an IPS Officer!
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
Inderjit Singh Interview Plane Crash
What ill-fated pilots of AI171 may have gone through in those 40 seconds before the crash? Intro:
IRAS Ananth Rupanagudi
IRAS Ananth Rupanagudi’s 27-Year Odyssey with Indian Railways | Exclusive Interview
Monika Singh
The Civil Servant Who Finds Peace in Poetry
ADVERTISEMENT
UPSC Stories
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-18 at 10.31
"I Just Wanted to Breathe Again": The Man Who Fought Death and Made It to UPSC
Struck by COVID at the peak of his UPSC prep, Devanand Telgote spent months on ECMO, unsure he'd live,...
Ravinder Nandal IDES
IDES Ravinder Nandal's Story of Self-Made Success
Balancing fatherhood, full-time jobs, and six UPSC attempts, Ravinder Nandal’s story is one of perseverance,...
Shailendra Choudhary UPSC
Daily Routine, Optional, Essays & More | Shailendra Choudhary Breaks It Down
Shailendra Choudhary, AIR 362 in UPSC 2024, shares how focused preparation, self-made strategies, and...
Social Media
Tigress Arrowhead
The End of an Era: A Queen Falls - Ranthambore’s Iconic Tigress Arrowhead (T-84) Passes Away at 14, Hours After Daughter’s Relocation
Ranthambore mourns the loss of one of its fiercest and most beloved tigers, Arrowhead, the granddaughter...
Screenshot 2025-06-13 194001
Wild Elephant Disrupts Riverside Picnic, Sparks Debate on Human Encroachment; IFS Parveen Kumar Shares the Video - Watch Here!
Mr. Kaswan used the viral video, which has garnered over 1.5 lakh views, to highlight the risks of human...
Tiger jump Sundarban
Stunning Viral Video Shows Royal Bengal Tiger Making Spectacular 30-Foot Leap Across River in Sunderbans - See It Here
Retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda shared the clip online, which quickly went...
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
IAS Prasanth N
Controversy Deepens Over IAS Officer Prasanth’s Suspension Extension Despite Panel Clearance
Indian Bureaucracy News Latest
ACC Extends Central Deputation Tenures of Ajai Kumar Verma and Kushagra Mittal
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
Inderjit Singh Interview Plane Crash
IRAS Ananth Rupanagudi
Monika Singh
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT