Havildar Rajesh Kumar, AC was a

Non Commissioned Officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

(NCO) of

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

who was awarded India's highest military decoration Ashoka Chakra.

Early life

Rajesh Kumar was born in the village of Lath near Bhainswal Kalan, Sonipat District in

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. He was the son of Shri Ram Kishan and Smt Parmeshwari. He joined the army after his initial education.

Military career

Kumar was recruited into 11th battalion Rajputana Rifles, an infantry regiment with a glorious history of gallantry awards and battle honours. On 1 August 2009, he was leading a section of the Ghatak team that was on a search mission for terrorists in the forests of Kupwara district of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. He opened fire on the terrorists and killed three of them, saving his comrades, but was seriously wounded in the process. He later succumbed to these injuries. He was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, the highest peacetime military decoration in India.

Ashoka Chakra awardee

The citation by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

during the awarding of the Ashoka Chakra read: ''Havildar Rajesh Kumar showed unparalleled feat of most conspicuous gallantry, fortitude and the rare spirit of self sacrifice in fighting the terrorists.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Rajesh 2009 deaths Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) Ashoka Chakra