LAST year, Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) Sanjay Kumar was posted as an instructor at the National Defence Academy, Pune. He got promoted as Subedar Major too. But, more than that, he is among the three living awardees of the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), the country’s highest wartime gallantry medal. Born on March 3, 1976 at Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, he completed education at Bilaspur and then moved to Delhi. On June 26, 1996, he joined the Indian Army at the age of 20 years. He was posted in 13 Jammu and Kashmir (JAK) Rifles. In less than three years of joining the Indian Army, he participated in the Kargil war in 1999 as Pakistan had trecherously captured winter-vacated posts at high altitude in Ladakh with an intention to sever Srinagar-Leh national highway connectivity. During ‘Operation Vijay’, the capture of Tololing on June 13, 1999, was followed by the next objectives -- to capture Point 5140 and Point 4875. Both these features dominated National Highway-1A. The 13 JAK Rifles was tasked to capture the vital positions.

 

The main features of Point 4875 included Whale Back, Flat Top, and Shivling. On July 3, 1999, Lt Col Y K Joshi (who retired recently as Lt Gen), the Commanding Officer of 13 JAK Rifles ordered attack on Point 4875. The next day, Major S V Bhaskar leading the ‘A’ Company launched the attack from the eastern slopes, and Major Gurpreet Singh assaulted the western slopes of South Spur to capture the Flat Top. ‘C’ Company of Major Gurpreet Singh cleared South Spur without any difficulty, as it was not held by the enemy. ‘A’ Company of Major S V Bhaskar, however, was daylighted (spotted by the enemy in daylight) and pinned down close to the Point 4875 objective. Soon, ‘C’ Company also was daylighted and came under heavy fire from the Flat Top. Rifleman Shyam Singh, who was leading scout of the platoon, came across an enemy sangar. Acting swiftly, he killed two occupants, but was wounded and succumbed to his injuries. He was awarded a Vir Chakra for his bravery. In such a situation, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar volunteered to be the leading scout of the platoon tasked to capture the Flat Top in Mushkoh Valley. Having scaled the cliff, he came under effective enemy fire from an enemy-held bunker. He charged forward and in the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, he killed three of the intruders.

 

He sustained serious injuries. Still, he charged on the second bunker. Taken totally by surprise, the enemy fled, leaving behind their machine gun. Rifleman Sanjay Kumar picked up the machine gun in that situation, and killed the fleeing enemy. Although he was profusely bleeding, he refused to be evacuated and continued to engage the enemy. His daring act boosted the morale of his team-mates. They charged on to the enemy and captured the Flat Top. For this act, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra. As his PVC citation reads, “Rifleman Sanjay Kumar indomitable spirit and unadulterated courage, when he charged the enemy sangar with utter disregard to personal safety... Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, thus, displayed the most conspicuous and extraordinary gallantry, cool courage, nad devotion to duty of an exceptionally high order in the face of the enemy”. (To be continued)