The Hindu : Call of duty came first

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 04, 2004

National

National

Call of duty came first

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu Jan. 3. Lieutenant Trivini Singh promised his colleagues in the 5-JAK -LI regiment that he would come back and have dinner with them after ``finishing'' the `fidayeen' (suicide squad) who had `occupied' the Jammu railway station last night.But he could not keep his word.

Lt. Trivini Singh arrived at the railway station at 7.20 p.m. and cordoned off the area where the terrorists were hiding.

His first task was to evacuate the civilians. Ram Pal, a policeman, told that Lt. Trivini Singh handled the situation so well that none of the passengers were hurt. The two militants had taken the position on platform one under the stairs connecting platform two.

The militants, in Army fatigues, were firing indiscriminately. One of them was mistaken as an injured jawan. When they fired at the police personnel, Lt. Trivini Singh pushed the policemen and gunned down a terrorist.

After an exchange of fire for one hour, he crawled to the parcel office and pounced on the hiding militant.

The militant exploded a grenade and both were killed instantly.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC), Tiger Division, Major. General Rajinder Singh, said, ``Lt. Trivini Singh gunned down the fidayeen in a fierce encounter. In his death, we have lost a brave officer.''

One of his colleagues said, ``He fought like a tiger. He sacrificed his life and rescued many passengers. We were waiting for him. He could not keep his words to have dinner with us.''

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