Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

Jyoti Prakash Nirala, AC (15 November 1986 – 18 November 2017) was a member of the

Garud Commando Force The Garud Commando Force is the special forces of the Indian Air Force. It was formed on 6 February 2004 and with a plan to have around 2,000-personnel strength. The unit derives its name from ''Garuda'', a Hindu deity. Garud forces are tasked ...

. 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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

's highest peacetime military decoration in January 2018. He is the first airman to receive the award for ground combat and only the third one to receive it overall after

Suhas Biswas Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas, AC (9 September 1924 – 1 September 1957) was an officer in the Indian Air Force who was the first Air Force Officer to be awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military award, in the year of 19 ...

and

Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC (born 13 January 1949) is an Indian cosmonaut and a former Indian Air Force officer. He flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the first Indian citizen to ...

Early and personal life

Nirala was a resident of the Badladih village of

Rohtas district Rohtas District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar States and territories of India, state, India. It came into existence when Shahabad district, Shahabad District was bifurcated into Bhojpur & Rohtas in 1972. Administrative headquart ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. He was born on 15 November 1986, in Hindu family to Tej Narayan Singh Yadav and Malti Devi. Jyoti Prakash Nirala was married to Sushma Nand Yadav in 2010 and they have a daughter Jigyasa Kumari.

Military service

Nirala joined the

of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

in 2005. His unit was deputed to the 13

Rashtriya Rifles The Rashtriya Rifles (RR; ) is a counter-insurgency force in India, formed in 1990, to deal with internal security in the Jammu and Kashmir (region), Jammu and Kashmir region. They maintain public order by drawing powers from the Armed Forces ...

and stationed in

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 ...

under

Operation Rakshak Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation ''Rakshak'', which began in 1990, Operation ''Sarp Vinash'' in 2003 and Operation ''Randori Behak'' in ''2020''. Other operations include humanitarian m ...

Ashok Chakra

A joint offensive was launched by the Garud detachment and the 13

in Chanderger village,

Bandipora district Bandipore district (also spelt as Bandipora or Bandipur) is an administrative district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a me ...

based on

technical intelligence Technical intelligence (TECHINT) is intelligence about weapons and equipment used by the armed forces of foreign nations. The related term, scientific and technical intelligence, addresses information collected or analyzed about the broad range ...

. His detachment covertly approached the house that had suspected militants hiding in it and laid a close quarter ambush. Nirala, armed with a light machine gun, positioned himself close to the approach of the hideout, cutting off all escape routes. In a bid to escape, the six militants rushed out, shooting and throwing grenades. He retaliated and shot down two category ‘A’ militants and injured two others. In the exchange, he was hit by a volley of small arms fire and kept firing despite being critically injured. Nirala subsequently succumbed to the fatal injuries received during the encounter in which all six militants were killed. He was awarded the

Ashok 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 ...

on 26 January 2018 for service and exhibiting bravery in fighting the militants. He is credited with eliminating the local leadership of Lakshar-e-Taiba. One of the militants killed during the operation was the nephew of

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistani Islamism, Islamist militant organization driven by a Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist ideology. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan. It was founded in 19 ...

commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a major planner of the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nirala, Jyoti Prakash Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) Deaths by firearm in India 2017 deaths Indian Air Force personnel Indian military personnel killed in action 1986 births People from Rohtas district Ashoka Chakra Garud Commandos