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Soldier’s wife breaks down during presentation of gallantry awards

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

HONOURING THE BRAVE: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Shaurya Chakra (posthumous) to wife of Lance Naik Jyotish Prakash at the Defence Investiture ceremony in New Delhi on Wednesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also seen.

NEW DELHI: The defence gallantry awards ceremony on Wednesday saw an open show of emotions by a soldier’s wife and recognition of bravery by civilians and military men in non-military situations. President Pratibha Patil also shed some of the stiffness associated with such functions by having a brief word with each relative of posthumously awarded people. Ms. Patil has already set the tradition of walking up to the next of kin of martyred soldiers instead of waiting to receive them.

The wife of Lance Naik Jyotish Prakash, who died during an anti-insurgency operation, was unable to control her grief when the soldier’s name was called out. She began crying when the citation was being read out and continued to do so even when the President walked up to her to present the medal and the scroll.

While the President walked back to her seat, the soldier’s wife was still unable to keep her emotions in check prompting the wife of an officer to rush up to her to console her. But with the woman showing no signs of restraining her grief, she was escorted out of the hall.

The awards began with the presentation of six Kirti Chakras, the nation’s second highest award for gallantry, of which three went to civilians, all posthumously. Dayanand Pandey and Mohd. Shan Ahmed were recognised for laying down their lives to safeguard government money during separate robbery bids in Faizabad and Jhansi. The third civilian, Tarun Kumar Dutta of Meghalaya, was killed by drug smugglers for leading several operations against them.

The other three Kirti Chakras went to Army personnel. Naik Radhakrishnan of 10 Madras was posthumously honoured for displaying unflinching grit and raw courage during an operation in Jammu and Kashmir. The same firefight led to Subedar P. Manohar of the same battalion being conferred the Shaurya Chakra.

Among the Shaurya Chakra winners, two were from the recently raised “home and hearth” battalions in J&K. Both men laid down their lives during counter-insurgency operations. Others included a militant-turned-soldier whose father had earlier been killed in reprisal after they could not get at his son in a bomb attack.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) officer who died in a helicopter crash at the treacherous Siachen Glacier was also conferred the Kirti Chakra.

IAF Sergeant J. P. Shukla was recognised for sacrificing his life while saving civilians during floods near his air base in Rajasthan while Naik Rajan Singh was commended for holding off an attempt at robbery on a running train.

The soldier fought 10 dacoits and despite being shot in the thigh unnerved the dacoits to an extent that they jumped off the train.

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