In a quiet immaculate hospital room, thin green and red wave lines crawled on the black screen of the ventilator as an unconscious police constable breathed in from a tube inserted through his mouth, down the windpipe.

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A grenade splinter had hit and entered his skull through the left temporal, traversed through the brain, ruptured the tissue and left it bleeding inside

In the operation theatre, another constable was being operated on for his multiple facial fractures; a stone had hit and altered his face beyond recognition.

Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) and Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) personnel are as grievously injured as stone pelting protesters but the law and order agencies remain so dehumanized by the politics of the Kashmir conflict that it has been difficult for the administration to get their wounded treated in civil hospitals of the valley.

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Generally, injured police personnel are admitted to their respective institutional hospitals but in certain critical cases, they are shifted to the civil hospitals with specialized staff and advanced equipment.

"In a few cases of emergency, we took our injured boys on stretchers to the well-known civil hospitals but mobs chased them right up to the gate. Inside the hospitals, there was so much fury that we had to evacuate our wounded personnel and move them to the Army hospital," a senior police official told the Times of India.

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During the last ten days of violent protests following Hizb commander Burhan Wani's killing, over 3000 people were injured, out of which half belong to the police and the CRPF

Most of the police personnel were treated and immediately sent back on duty given the volatile situation but the critically injured—12 from CRPF and eight from police—were moved to Army's 92 Base hospital, known for its exceptionally high rate of recovery. Of them, nine were wounded by stones and 11 by grenade splinters, Brigadier MS Tevatia, commandant of the base hospital said.

Also Read: As Eid Gift, J&K Govt Withdraws Cases Of Stone Pelting Against Jailed Protesters

One of the injured J&K police constables, who received splinter injuries in his chest, abdomen and brain remains critical. The bone flap in his skull was opened to remove the splinter but to no avail. An injured Marathi constable who received splinter injuries in his abdomen, recounted how someone among the stone-pelters at Nowhatta lobbed a grenade at the dozen odd paramilitary men.

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"We are used to the stone-pelting mobs who come out on the streets almost every Friday here.

We took the stones and grenade splinters but did not fire back. We always exercise restraint because we don't wish to open fire at young boys,"

a Kerala constable said adding, "But I got scared by the mob that followed me in the hospital." Most of the injured CRPF personnel in the Army hospital served for several years in the violent conflict areas like Jharkhand, Manipur before they were transferred to Kashmir.

The outrage against the forces is such that even the Army hospital at Drugmulla in north Kashmir was targeted by stone pelters, a video released by the Northern Command showed

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Ironically, the Army hospital treats more civilian population than Army personnel. Last year, it gave free treatment to more than 10,000 civilians.

The hostility towards CRPF personnel, who are perceived to be outsiders in Kashmir, is understandable.

"But these rioting mobs do not even spare the J&K police that comprises mostly local Kashmiris, their own people," an official said.

23 police posts and stations were burnt down and over 50 damaged. A policeman was killed by drowning him along his vehicle while two others were nearly stoned to death.

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Low paid police personnel remain at the receiving end, both while fighting stone-pelting mobs in the streets and even after they are severely injured, a constable who could barely talk with a broken jaw told the TOI. "I am scared for my family in my native village. My job makes them vulnerable too," he said while insisting that his name not be published.

Civilian casualty and injuries far outweigh security personnel's but what should a handful of policemen do in the face of stone-pelting mobs of over 100 to 200 youth, some of which are infiltrated by armed militants, many officers in police and CRPF have been asking in Kashmir.

"Our boys exercise maximum restraint but it is easier said than done when rioters and militants are out there assaulting us with stones and grenades. But it seems media wants us to abdicate our responsibility and allow absolute anarchy," said a senior police officer who did not want to be named.

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"Do you know the speed of a stone that is hurled at us? It is 100 miles per hour. Do you think that is not lethal?" the officer asked adding that stones in Kashmir were not benign. In the last 26 years, over 6000 security forces have laid their lives and more than 10,000 have been injured while fighting insurgency in Kashmir. J&K police alone has lost 1500 officers and personnel.