New Delhi: The Central Armed Police forces of India (CAPF) would for the first time be equipped with Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) marked level 5 bulletproof jackets in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat ‘ vision.

The CAPF would receive the jackets by the end of September informed the officials. As the CAPF guard VIPs and other key personalities in Maoist hit areas and Jammu -Kashmir, the security personnel are more vulnerable to attacks, sources in the home ministry said adding that these jackets would add to their safety.

The Home Ministry stated,” a new set of 4,000 bullet resistance jackets will be provided to the CAPF with the first-time certification from the BIS, a national standard body of India established under the BIS Act 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods”.

Presently, seven CAPF’s are using Level-4 category bullet resistance jackets. Amongst these are Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashstra Seema Bal (SSB), Assam Rifles (AR) and National Security Guard (NSG).

Speaking about the uniqueness of the jacket, an official said, “BR jackets to be received by CAPF will be BIS hallmarked for the first time.” “The BIS marked level 5 BR jackets would provide resistance against hard Steel Core bullets in an attack”, said another official on terms of anonymity. The cost of each jacket is speculated to be Rs 40,000- 45,000 for each piece. The BR jackets being used by CAPF currently are NIJ certified.