Capt. Sanjay Chauhan, SC, was an

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

officer of the 16

Rajputana Rifles The Rajputana Rifles is the oldest rifle regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally a part of the British Indian Army, when six previously existing regiments were amalgamated to form six battalions of the 6th Rajputana Rifles. In 1945, the ...

. During a military counter-insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir, India, Captain Chauhan attempted to infiltrate an enemy militant group. On the basis of actionable intelligence gathered by his network of informers in Kashmir, he planned an assault on foreign terrorists hiding in Lachimpora, Jammu and Kashmir. The operation, if successful, could lead to the elimination of foreign militant hierarchy in a sensitive area of Kashmir. Captain Chauhan was killed along with his three teammates on 28 October 1994, in the Lachimpora village of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. He was awarded the

Shaurya Chakra The Shaurya Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice while not engaged in direct action with the enemy. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, sometimes posthumously ...

, India's third-highest military honour. At the time, the

Kashmir insurgency The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger ...

was at its peak, as foreign terrorists entered India from the other side of the Line of Control with the objective of destabilizing the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Disguised as foreign terrorists, Capt. Chauhan and his team of three soldiers, armed with

AK-47s The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

, entered the village of Lachimpora. A platoon, led by a JCO, was to hide in a ridge nearby, observing the situation from their vantage point, and respond to any call for help. The militants, despite the soldiers' disguise, grew suspicious. Soon, the team was found out. They escaped the gathering of terrorists and took their place in a hut. The JCO, however, failed to respond to their calls for support even as 20-30 terrorists descended from the hills. The party of soldiers was captured alive and subsequently tortured to death. The horribly mutilated bodies of the soldiers, found in the middle of

Handwara Handwara is a sub-district and a town in Kupwara district of Kashmir. It was known as Uttar Machipora until the division of Baramulla district in the 1980s resulting in the formation of two new districts: Kupwara and Bandipora. It is located on ...

, revealed that the militants had tortured them by pulling out their fingernails, gouging their eyes out, chopping their hands off, and by maiming their private parts. Capt. Sanjay Chauhan was awarded the

, India's third-highest military honour, for valour in the face of the enemy.

References

External links

The Kashmiri Pandits: An Ethnic Cleansing the World Forgot

Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi T.A. 594 of 2009 Writ Petition (Civil) No. 5349 of 1997
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chauhan, Sanjay Indian Army officers Recipients of the Shaurya Chakra