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 ...

Harshan Radhakrishnan Nair, AC (15 April 1980 – 20 March 2007) was an officer in the

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 ...

serving in the elite 2nd Battalion of the

Para (Special Forces) The Para (Special Forces), informally referred to as Para SF, is a group of special forces battalions of the Parachute Regiment (India), Parachute Regiment in the Indian Army. These units specialise in various roles including counter-insurgen ...

also known as "Predators". He was posthumously awarded 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 ...

, the country's highest peacetime gallantry award in 2008. He was martyred after being shot in the thigh and neck in an encounter with Harkatul Mujahideen terrorists in the Chhoti Margi area of Lolab in Jammu and Kashmir during an operation on 20 March 2007.

Personal life

Harshan Radhakrishnan Nair was born on 15 April 1980 at

Manacaud Manacaud is a locality in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, India. This place is situated between Kamaleswaram and Attakulangara on East Fort - Kovalam - Vizhinjam Road. The United Arab Emirates embassy is also situated in Manacaud. Lo ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He was born to K. Radhakrishnan Nair and G. S. Chitrambika. He did his studies in Sainik School (Kazhakootam) and the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

(NDA). He joined B.Tech. Civil Engineering in NSS college of Engineering Palakkad in 1997 and quit the course for joining in NDA. He was a part of the 101st course, Golf squadron at the NDA. He served as Cadet Captain at Sainik School, during his standard XII (1996–97) and is noted for a performance as 'Brutus' during a stage play on 'Julius Caesar' during the Annual day celebrations.

Military career

Harshan was commissioned as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 16 December 2002 into 2nd Battalion of

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

. He was also selected for special weapons training in Israel. He was promoted

on 16 December 2004.

Encounter

The encounter at Kaingur Nar started on 7 March 2007. Captain Harshan, while leading a small team, observed suspicious movement in the MT-3245 area. Harshan eliminated two of the terrorists without sustaining any serious injury to himself. The encounter continued in the nearby Chotimargi MT-3448 region. On 20 March, Harshan along with one of his junior sergeants cordoned off one of the houses in which terrorists were hiding. At 03:50 AM, four of the terrorists rushed out firing towards Harshan and his companion. Harshan took out the leader of the terrorist group but was shot in the thigh. Despite sustaining the injury, he took out one more terrorist, but in the process got shot in his neck. Before dying from his injuries, he lobbed a grenade and wounded the third terrorist.Welcome to The Parachute Regiment
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Ashoka Chakra

Harshan was given the nation's highest peacetime gallantry award

for his exceptional courage, fighting spirit and supreme sacrifice.

Personal life

Military career

Encounter

Ashoka Chakra

References

Further reading