Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

D. Sreeram Kumar AC (born 11 January 1981) is a serving

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 who was decorated in 2010 with the

Ashoka Chakra The Ashoka Chakra (Transl: Ashoka's wheel) is an Indian symbol which is a depiction of the dharmachakra (English: "wheel of dharma"). It is so-called because it appears on a number of edicts of Ashoka the Great, most prominent among which is ...

, India's highest peacetime gallantry decoration.

Early life

Sreeram Kumar was born in

Kovilpatti Kovilpatti is an industrial city and special grade municipality in Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 65 km (40 mi) from Thoothukudi, 102 km (63 mi) from Madurai and 565 km (351 mi) from Chennai. It is the headquarters of t ...

and did his schooling in

Sainik School, Amaravathinagar Sainik School Amaravathinagar is a Boys and Girls English medium, residential public school with a military bias up to +2 stage as per the CBSE board Syllabus. It is one of the 33 Government aided Sainik Schools in India, located in Udumalpet ...

and passed out in 1998. He did his under graduation at

The American College in Madurai The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Saracenic style, b ...

Army career

Kumar joined the

Officers Training Academy The Officers Training Academy (OTA) is a training establishment of the Indian Army that trains officers for the Short Service Commission (SSC). The 49-week course at the OTA prepares graduates for all branches of the Army, except for the Army Me ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

in October 2002 and received a short-service commission in 90 Medium Regiment (Artillery) on 20 March 2004, with the rank of lieutenant. On 20 March 2009, he received a regular commission (seniority from 20 October 2004) with the service number IC-66076A, and was promoted captain on 20 October 2006. Promoted acting

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 24 August 2008, he served with 39

Assam Rifles The Assam Rifles (AR) is a paramilitary force of India responsible for border security, counter-insurgency, and maintaining law and order in Northeast India and in Jammu & Kashmir in lines of Rashtriya Rifles. Its primary duty involves guard ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

(Operation Orchid) and later in

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

(Operation Hifazat).

Ashoka Chakra citation

A brief about the action reads:

Subsequent career

Kumar received a substantive promotion to major on 20 October 2010, with promotion to lieutenant-colonel on 20 October 2017. On 31 January 2021, he was promoted to

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

(by selection), with seniority from 26 October 2019. He later went on to command 90 Medium and was later selected for Higher Command course at Army War Collage Mhow. He is currently posted in Southern Command

Controversy

In March 2013, a Supreme Court judicial commission ruled the killing of cousins Gobind and Nobo Meitei in the Langol area of Imphal to have been a staged encounter. The killings took place on 4 April 2009, and involved a joint team of local police and a unit of 39 Assam Rifles commanded by Kumar. While official statements from the paramilitary forces were that the cousins had opened fire when challenged and had been killed in response, the judicial panel concluded that based on medical evidence and witness testimonies, the action was "not an encounter but an operation by the security forces wherein death of the victims was caused knowingly". Referring to the encounter, in which 89 rounds were fired at the pair, Kumar was reported as saying the encounter had been genuine, and that his understanding was "when a person is warned by the security forces and if he reacts by firing, such a person is a hardcore terrorist." On 14 July 2017, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a probe into several extrajudicial killings in Manipur, including the case in which Kumar was implicated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, D. Sreeram Indian Army officers Military personnel from Tamil Nadu 1981 births Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) People from Coimbatore Living people Sainik School alumni Ashoka Chakra