Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Sanjay Chauhan, SC, was an

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

officer of the 16

Rajputana Rifles The Rajputana Rifles is the oldest rifle regiment of the Indian Army, having been founded in 1775. It traces its origins to the British Indian Army, when six previously existing regiments were amalgamated to form six battalions of the 6th ...

who was killed in action in 1994, leading an operation against foreign terrorists in North Kashmir. He was posthumously decorated with 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 posthum ...

, India's third-highest decoration for conspicuous gallantry in peacetime. He was born in a

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

family. Capt Chauhan was killed along with his three teammates on 28 October 1994, in the Lacchimpora village of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. 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.

Operation Sahas

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. If successful, the operation could lead to the elimination of foreign militant hierarchy in a sensitive area of 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 an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kal ...

, 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 town in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is located on Baramulla-Handwara National Highway NH-701 and is governed by a municipal committee. Handwara is known for its high-quality walnuts, which are a major ...

, 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