Chuni Lal

Naib Subedar Chuni Lal AC, VrC, SM
Birth name	Chuni Lal
Born	(1968-03-06)6 March 1968 Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Died	24 June 2007(2007-06-24) (aged 39) Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Service / branch	Indian Army
Years of service	1984–2007
Rank	Naib Subedar
Service number	JC-593527
Unit	8th Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry battalion
Battles / wars	Siachen Conflict Operation Meghdoot Operation Rajiv Kargil War Operation Vijay
Awards	Ashok Chakra Vir Chakra Sena Medal (Gallantry)

Naib Subedar Chuni Lal AC, VrC, SM was an Indian Army soldier of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (8 JAK LI). Decorated with Vir Chakra and Sena Medal (Gallantry),, he is the most highly-decorated soldier of the Indian Army of all time, honoured with the Sena Medal, Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra.

Lal was born in Bhaderwah, and lived in Bhara village with his parents, Shanker Dass and Shakuntala Devi, in Doda district of Jammu.

He was killed in action on 24 June 2007 in an operation in Kashmir's Kupwara sector. The success of this militant flush-out operation earned him the highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield, the Ashok Chakra.

Career

Chuni Lal joined the 8th Battalion, the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment, in 1984. Three years later, he volunteered and participated in an operation to capture the Quaid post, which was later called the Bana Top, located at 21,153 feet (6,447 m) in the Siachen Glacier; for this action he was awarded the Sena Medal (Gallantry). A large number of Pakistani infiltrators had intruded over the Siachen Glacier; his battalion was tasked with the ejection of these infiltrators, and a special task force was constituted for this purpose. The Pakistani intrusion had set up positions at a glacier fortress with ice walls 1,500 feet (460 m) high, at the highest peak in the area, from where they could snipe at Indian army positions. On 26 June 1987, Naib Subedar Bana Singh led Chuni Lal and other men through an extremely difficult and hazardous route. These soldiers crawled and closed in on the infiltrators and cleared the post of all intruders. This operation was named as Operation Rajiv and Nb Sub Bana Singh was awarded Param Vir Chakra for courage and bravery.

In 1999, in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Rakshak, he fought an attempted intrusion by the Pakistan Army and was instrumental in killing 12 intruders and saved the post from enemy capture. He was awarded the Vir Chakra, for gallantry.

He also did two tenures with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Somalia and Sudan. Display of exemplary courage by his team in Sudan won his unit a UN citation for valour.

On 21 June 2007, Lal was promoted Naib Subedar (seniority from 1 June). Only three days later, on 24 June 2007, Lal was in charge of a post in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. The post was at the height of 14,000 feet (4,300 m); visibility on that cloudy night was barely 5 metres (16 ft) and temperature was −5 degrees. Around 3:30 AM, he detected some movement across the fence on the Line of Control and decided to check it. He deployed his soldiers at the LoC. An exchange of fire followed, which continued for almost an hour. Nb Sub Chuni Lal and his soldiers surrounded the whole area and searched for their assailants till dawn. Finally as Nb Sub Chunni Lal and his team were approaching to search a sketchy bushy patch, they were suddenly fired upon. The men continued to close on to the area where their attackers were hiding and killed two of them on the spot. In the gunfire, two army soldiers were seriously wounded and lay close to where their attackers hid. With disregard to his personal safety, Chuni Lal crawled towards the wounded men and pulled them to safety thus saving their lives. Anticipating more hidden attackers, he continued to search the area. His anticipation proved right and he saw a third attacker trying to escape. Nb Sub Chuni Lal charged at him with his weapon and killed him. Unfortunately, an exchange fire from the attacker split opened Nb Sub Chunni Lal's abdomen and he began to lose lot of blood. He took cover behind a rock, continued to fire and did not allow the other attackers to break the cordon. Under his leadership the two remaining attackers were also killed.

Chuni Lal had lost a large volume of blood and died by the time a helicopter could airlift him to nearest Army Hospital. For his actions in battle, Nb Sub Chuni Lal was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra on 15 August 2007 for saving the lives of his fellow men, displaying most conspicuous bravery, demonstrating battle field leadership and laying down his life to protect the country.

Nb Sub Chuni Lal is survived by his wife Chinta Devi, and three children — a son and two daughters. His wife, Chinta Devi, received his Ashok Chakra medal from the President of India at the Republic Day Parade of 26 January 2008.

Gallantry awards

Ashok Chakra		Vir Chakra
Sena Medal	Wound Medal	Special Service Medal	Siachen Glacier Medal
Sainya Seva Medal	High Altitude Medal	Videsh Seva Medal	50th Anniversary of Independence Medal
20 Years Long Service Medal	9 Years Long Service Medal	United Nations Medal - Somalia	United Nations Medal - Congo

Ashoka Chakra Award details

The published details of the Ashoka Chakra Award:

JC-NYA-9088705 NAIB SUBEDAR CHUNNI LAL, 8 JAMMU & KASHMIR LIGHT INFANTRY (POSTHUMOUS)

Naib Subedar Chunni Lal who belonged to Bhaderwah (J&K) killed three terrorists on 24 June 2007 before laying down his life in countering an infiltration bid by terrorists in Kupwara sector of J&K. This courageous junior commissioned officer was decorated twice for bravery on earlier occasions. As a young soldier he had taken part in the capture of Bana Top in Siachen Glacier in 1987 for which he was awarded a Sena Medal. He was also awarded Vir Chakra for beating back an attempted intrusion in Poonch sector in 1999.

Vir Chakra Award Citation

The citation for the Vir Chakra reads as follows:

Gazette Notification: 129 Pres/2001, 15.8.2001,

Operation: -, Date of Award: 30 Aug 2000,

Citation:
Havildar Chuni Lal was part of a special mission operation at the Line of Control in Doda- Poonch Sector in Jammu and Kashmir. On 24 August 2000, he successfully thwarted enemy's attack to capture own forward post. On the night 23rd/24th August 2000, the enemy started shelling and firing heavily at own post. Despite heavy shelling, Havildar Chuni Lal displayed undaunted bravery by moving from bunker-to bunker in his section and motivating his troops who brought down effective medium machine gun fire on the enemy's attacking column. Subsequently, he inspired his men by personal example to fight a close quarter battle in open trenches.

Observing that two enemy soldiers have jumped inside own communication trench, he picked up a light machine gun and rushed at them disregarding own safety and shot them dead. Taken by surprise at the ferocity of the pro-active stance of own troops, the enemy quickly retreated leaving behind several weapons at our post. Twelve enemy soldiers were killed in the action. Havildar Chuni Lal displayed conspicuous courage and relentless offensive action in the face of the enemy.