Chuni Lal

Recipient of Vir Chakra

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Naib Subedar

Chuni Lal

AC, VrC, SM

Birth name| Chuni Lal
Born| (1968-03-06)6 March 1968[1]
Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Died| 24 June 2007(2007-06-24) (aged 39)
Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Service / branch|  Indian Army
Years of service| 1984–2007
Rank|  Naib Subedar
Service number| JC-593527
Unit| 8th Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry battalion
Battles / wars| Siachen Conflict
Operation Meghdoot
Operation Rajiv
Kargil War
Operation Vijay

Awards|  Ashok Chakra
Vir Chakra
Sena Medal (Gallantry)

Naib Subedar Chuni Lal AC, VrC, SM was an Indian Army soldier of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (8 JAK LI). Decorated with Vir Chakra and Sena Medal (Gallantry),[2] he is the most highly-decorated soldier of the Indian Army of all time, honoured with the Sena Medal, Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra.

Lal was born in Bhaderwah,[3] and lived in Bhara village with his parents, Shanker Dass and Shakuntala Devi, in Doda district of Jammu.

He was killed in action on 24 June 2007[2] in an operation in Kashmir's Kupwara sector. The success of this militant flush-out operation earned him the highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield, the Ashok Chakra.

## Career

[edit]

Chuni Lal joined the 8th Battalion, the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment, in 1984. Three years later, he volunteered and participated in an operation to capture the Quaid post, which was later called the Bana Top, located at 21,153 feet (6,447 m) in the Siachen Glacier; for this action he was awarded the Sena Medal (Gallantry). A large number of Pakistani infiltrators had intruded over the Siachen Glacier; his battalion was tasked with the ejection of these infiltrators, and a special task force was constituted for this purpose. The Pakistani intrusion had set up positions at a glacier fortress with ice walls 1,500 feet (460 m) high, at the highest peak in the area, from where they could snipe at Indian army positions. On 26 June 1987, Naib Subedar Bana Singh led Chuni Lal and other men through an extremely difficult and hazardous route. These soldiers crawled and closed in on the infiltrators and cleared the post of all intruders. This operation was named as Operation Rajiv and Nb Sub Bana Singh was awarded Param Vir Chakra for courage and bravery.

In 1999, in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Rakshak, he fought an attempted intrusion by the Pakistan Army and was instrumental in killing 12 intruders and saved the post from enemy capture. He was awarded the Vir Chakra, for gallantry.

He also did two tenures with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Somalia and Sudan. Display of exemplary courage by his team in Sudan won his unit a UN citation for valour.

On 21 June 2007, Lal was promoted Naib Subedar (seniority from 1 June).[4] Only three days later, on 24 June 2007, Lal was in charge of a post in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. The post was at the height of 14,000 feet (4,300 m); visibility on that cloudy night was barely 5 metres (16 ft) and temperature was −5 degrees[ambiguous]. Around 3:30 AM, he detected some movement across the fence on the Line of Control and decided to check it. He deployed his soldiers at the LoC. An exchange of fire followed, which continued for almost an hour. Nb Sub Chuni Lal and his soldiers surrounded the whole area and searched for their assailants till dawn. Finally as Nb Sub Chunni Lal and his team were approaching to search a sketchy bushy patch, they were suddenly fired upon. The men continued to close on to the area where their attackers were hiding and killed two of them on the spot. In the gunfire, two army soldiers were seriously wounded and lay close to where their attackers hid. With disregard to his personal safety, Chuni Lal crawled towards the wounded men and pulled them to safety thus saving their lives. Anticipating more hidden attackers, he continued to search the area. His anticipation proved right and he saw a third attacker trying to escape. Nb Sub Chuni Lal charged at him with his weapon and killed him. Unfortunately, an exchange fire from the attacker split opened Nb Sub Chunni Lal's abdomen and he began to lose a lot of blood. He took cover behind a rock, continued to fire and did not allow the other attackers to break the cordon. Under his leadership the two remaining attackers were also killed.

Chuni Lal had lost a large volume of blood and died by the time a helicopter could airlift him to nearest Army Hospital. For his actions in battle, Nb Sub Chuni Lal was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra on 15 August 2007[5] for saving the lives of his fellow men, displaying most conspicuous bravery, demonstrating battle field leadership and laying down his life to protect the country.

Nb Sub Chuni Lal was survived by his wife Chinta Devi, and three children — a son and two daughters. His wife, Chinta Devi, received his Ashok Chakra medal from the President of India at the Republic Day Parade of 26 January 2008.

## Gallantry awards

[edit]

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|  |  |
|  |  |
Ashok Chakra | Vir Chakra

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Sena Medal | Wound Medal | Special Service Medal | Siachen Glacier Medal
Sainya Seva Medal | High Altitude Medal | Videsh Seva Medal | 50th Anniversary of Independence Medal
20 Years Long Service Medal | 9 Years Long Service Medal | United Nations Medal - Somalia  | United Nations Medal - Congo

### Ashoka Chakra Award details

[edit]

The published details of the Ashoka Chakra Award:

> JC-NYA-9088705 NAIB SUBEDAR CHUNNI LAL, 8 JAMMU & KASHMIR LIGHT INFANTRY (POSTHUMOUS)[6]

> Naib Subedar Chunni Lal who belonged to Bhaderwah (J&K) killed three terrorists on 24 June 2007 before laying down his life in countering an infiltration bid by terrorists in Kupwara sector of J&K. This courageous junior commissioned officer was decorated twice for bravery on earlier occasions. As a young soldier he had taken part in the capture of Bana Top in Siachen Glacier in 1987 for which he was awarded a Sena Medal. He was also awarded Vir Chakra for beating back an attempted intrusion in Poonch sector in 1999.[7]

### Vir Chakra Award Citation

[edit]

The citation for the Vir Chakra reads as follows:

> Gazette Notification: 129 Pres/2001, 15.8.2001,

> Operation: -, Date of Award: 30 Aug 2000,

> Citation:
>  Havildar Chuni Lal was part of a special mission operation at the Line of Control in Doda- Poonch Sector in Jammu and Kashmir. On 24 August 2000, he successfully thwarted enemy's attack to capture own forward post. On the night 23rd/24th August 2000, the enemy started shelling and firing heavily at own post. Despite heavy shelling, Havildar Chuni Lal displayed undaunted bravery by moving from bunker-to bunker in his section and motivating his troops who brought down effective medium machine gun fire on the enemy's attacking column. Subsequently, he inspired his men by personal example to fight a close quarter battle in open trenches.

> Observing that two enemy soldiers have jumped inside own communication trench, he picked up a light machine gun and rushed at them disregarding own safety and shot them dead. Taken by surprise at the ferocity of the pro-active stance of own troops, the enemy quickly retreated leaving behind several weapons at our post. Twelve enemy soldiers were killed in the action. Havildar Chuni Lal displayed conspicuous courage and relentless offensive action in the face of the enemy.[8]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Hav Chuni Lal, VRC, SM @ TWDI".
2. ^ a b "twice decorated soldier dies fighting militants". DNA India. 25 June 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
3. ^ "Famous Personalities of Bhadarwah - Shaheed Chuni Lal". Sanjeet Rakwal. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
4. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 12 July 2008. p. 868.
5. ^ "List of Awardees - 2007 - Independence Day - Ashoka Chakra". Indian Army. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
6. ^ "Press Information Bureau".
7. ^ "Press Information Bureau".
8. ^ "Vir Chakra (VRC), Awardee: Hav Chuni Lal, VRC, SM @ TWDI".

* v
* t
* e

Ashoka Chakra award recipients

1951 to 1970|

* Bachittar Singh† (1952)
* Narbahadur Thapa (1952)
* Suhas Biswas (1953)
* D. K. Jatar†^ (1955)
* Sundar Singh (1956)
* Jagannath Raoji Chitnis† (1957)
* Joginder Singh† (1957)
* Pollur Mutthuswamy Raman† (1957)
* Eric James Tucker† (1958)
* Khadka Bahadur Limbu† (1962)
* Man Bahadur Rai (1962)
* Chaman Lal†^ (1965)
* Lajjaram†^ (1965)
* Purshottam†^ (1965)
* Tej Singh†^ (1965)
* Shankar Lal Shrivastava† (1967)
* Dhanpat Singh^ (1968)
* Govind Singh^ (1968)
* Hukum Singh^ (1968)
* Lakhan Singh^ (1968)
* Takhat Singh†^ (1968)
* Jas Ram Singh (1969)

1971 to 1990|

* Baij Nath Singh†^ (1971)
* Bhure Lal^ (1972)
* Ummed Singh Mahra† (1972)
* Gurnam Singh (1974)
* Munnie Lal†^ (1974)
* Cyrus Addie Pithawalla (1981)
* Gennadi Strekalov* (1984)
* Yuri Malyshev* (1984)
* Bhawani Datt Joshi† (1985)
* Bhukant Misra† (1985)
* Chhering Mutup (1985)
* Jasbir Singh Raina (1985)
* Nirbhay Singh Sisodiya† (1985)
* Rakesh Sharma (1985)
* Ram Prakash Roperia† (1985)
* Vijay Jagirdar†^ (1986)
* Neerja Bhanot†^ (1987)

1991 to 2010|

* Randhir Prasad Verma† (1991)
* Sandeep Sankhla† (1992)
* Rakesh Singh Malhan† (1993)
* Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair† (1994)
* Harsh Uday Singh Gaur† (1995)
* Rajiv Kumar Joon† (1995)
* Sujjan Singh Yadav† (1995)
* Arun Singh Jasrotia† (1996)
* Puneet Nath Datt† (1997)
* Shanti Swaroop Rana† (1997)
* Sudhir Kumar Walia† (2000)
* Jagdish Prasad Yadav†^ (2001)
* Matbar Singh Negi†^ (2001)
* Kamlesh Kumari† (2001)
* Rambeer Singh Tomar† (2002)
* Surinder Singh† (2002)
* Suresh Chand Yadav† (2002)
* Sanjog Chhetri† (2004)
* Triveni Singh† (2004)
* Chuni Lal† (2007)
* Radhakrishnan Nair Harshan† (2007)
* Vasanth Venugopal† (2007)
* Dinesh Raghu Raman† (2008)
* Ashok Kamte† (2009)
* Bahadur Singh Bohra† (2009)
* Gajender Singh Bisht† (2009)
* Hemant Karkare† (2009)
* Jojan Thomas† (2009)
* Mohan Chand Sharma† (2009)
* Pramod Kumar Satapathy† (2009)
* R. P. Diengdoh† (2009)
* Sandeep Unnikrishnan† (2009)
* Tukaram Omble† (2009)
* Vijay Salaskar† (2009)
* D. Sreeram Kumar (2010)
* Mohit Sharma† (2010)
* Rajesh Kumar† (2010)

2011 to present|

* Laishram Jyotin Singh† (2011)
* Navdeep Singh† (2012)
* K. Prasad Babu† (2014)
* Mukund Varadarajan† (2014)
* Neeraj Kumar Singh† (2014)
* Mohan Nath Goswami† (2016)
* Hangpan Dada† (2017)
* Jyoti Prakash Nirala† (2018)
* Nazir Ahmad Wani† (2019)
* Babu Ram† (2021)

† Posthumous; ^ Civilian; * Non-Indian
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