384 soldiers receive gallantry awards, including 12 Shaurya Chakras

A total 384 Indian armed forces soldiers will receive gallantry and other defence decorations including 12 Shaurya Chakras on the eve of 73rd Republic Day celebrations on January 26These gallantry awards include 12 Shaurya Chakras 29 Param Vishisht Seva Medals four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals 13 Yudh Seva Medals three Bar to Vishisht Seva Medals 122 Vishisht Seva Medals three Bar to Sena Medals Gallantry 81 Sena Medals Gallantry two Vayu Sena Medals Gallantry 40 Sena Medals Devotion to Duty eight Nao Sena Medals Devotion to Duty and 14 Vayu Sena Medals Devotion to DutyOut of the 12 Shaurya Chakra awardees six Indian Army officers were honoured with Shaurya Chakra for counterterror operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern states Out of the six five were posthumously awarded Naib Subedar Sreejith M of the 17th battalion of Madras Regiment has been honoured posthumously for counterterror operations in Jammu and Kashmir On July 8 2021 Sreejith as Quick Reaction Team commander while carrying out search in densely forested and rugged terrain observed movement of two to three terroristsHe tactically deployed his team and engaged the terrorists with effective fire denying them to break contact and escape Amid the intense firefight he observed two terrorists trying to break the cordon He crawled to the flank and brought down effective fire eliminating one terrorist The other terrorists retaliated with a grenade launcher fire and hand grenades in which Sreejith sustained multiple injuries and started bleeding profusely Undeterred and regardless of his grievous injuries he refused to get evacuated and continued to fire before succumbing to his injuriesAnil Kumar Tomar of the Rajput Regiment has been honoured Shaurya Chakra posthumously for counterterror operations in Jammu and Kashmir On December 25 2020 Tomar was leading a combat action team for the operation He was directed by the mission leader to readjust the cordon While moving for the task he came under heavy fire from the terrorists and sustained bullet injury in his thigh Despite that he responded with accurate fire and neutralised a terrorist Then he pursued the second terrorist injured him and cornered him inside a house When the mission leader decided to address the house using an excavator Tomar despite being injured volunteered When the house was being addressed the injured second terrorist emerged from the house firing indiscriminately He engaged the second terrorist and neutralised him but succumbed to his injuriesKashiray Bammanalli of Engineers Corps also received Shaurya Chakra posthumously Bammanalli was a combat action team leader and laid a cordon towards likely escape route along the orchards at a village in Pulwama district At 1115 pm the terrorists tried to flee by lobbing grenades and firing indiscriminately in the direction of Bammanalli He responded with fire and pushed the terrorists back inside the house At 1150 pm in yet another desperate attempt to break the cordon the terrorists lobbed grenades and brought heavy fire on KashirayDespite sustaining injury on his chest he eliminated the terrorist Sensing danger to his flank he crawled forward to a vantage position and accurately engaged three other terrorists from close range thereby saving the lives of other troopers The terrorists were subsequently neutralised Pinku Kumar of Jat Regiment has been honoured with Shaurya Chakra posthumously On March 27 2021 Kumar was part of the inner cordon during an operation in Kashmir Kumar along with Sepoy Sushil Rathi were covering the most likely escape route of the terroristsAt approximately 815 pm in a bid to escape two terrorists rushed out of the target house towards the street while firing indiscriminately and lobbing grenades Kumar tactically reoriented his position engaged them with accurate fire and instantly eliminated one terrorist In the ensuing exchange of fire the second terrorist took a detour and hid behind the wall of a house Mindful of the risk to own life Kumar stealthily moved towards the house and engaged him in a close combat In the exchange of fire Kumar injured the terrorist but sustained grievous gun shot wound on his head and later succumbed to his injuriesSepoy Maruprolu Jaswanth Kumar Reddy of 17th battalion of the Madras Regiment has been honoured with Shaurya Chakra posthumously On July 8 2021 Reddy as scout number two while carrying out search in denselyforested and rugged terrain observed the movement of terrorists and immediately engaged themReddy blocked the most likely route to escape He displayed raw courage and eliminated a terrorist While he crawled forward to engage the other terrorists he saw his team commander severely injured in terrorists fire He immediately lobbed grenades to pin down the terrorists and swiftly pulled his commander to cover In doing so he came under heavy fire from the terrorists and sustained grievous injuries but disregarding his personal safety he continued to engage the terrorists before succumbing to his injuriesRifleman Rakesh Sharma of 5 Assam Rifles has also been honoured with Shaurya Chakra for counterterror operation in Asssam Sharma was part of an ambush after receiving information about movement of insurgents for extortion and killing of civilians at a village in Assam on May 23 2021 The operational contact was established at 2 am and a firefight with the column had confirmed neutralisation of four insurgentsAt 4 am Sharma sensing a gap in the ambush reorganised his location along with his rifleman Robinson They drew heavy fire from the tailend of the ambush Sharma spotted two insurgents fleeing the ambush in the cover of dense foliage He immediately pursued through woods under covering fire from Robinson and closed in to cut off the escape route Sharma shot dead a fleeing insurgent but being out of cover he drew heavy fire from the second insurgent He crawled to take cover under a fallen tree Showcasing superlative combat shooting he gunned down the second insurgent as wellThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever