Hav Jugal Kishore Sharma

Hav Jugal Kishore Sharma hailed from Gader village in Kharah Balli Tahsil of Jammu District. Son of Shri Ram Pal, he was fascinated with army life and nursed a dream of joining the army since his childhood. Consequently, he joined the army after completing his school education. He was recruited into the 19 JAK Rif battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles Regiment, an infantry Regiment known for its brave soldiers and rich history of various battle honours. 

Avalanche (Indo-China Border) : 06 Feb 2022

During 2022, Hav Jugal Kishore's unit 19 JAK Rif was deployed in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh near the Indo-China border. The AOR(Area of Responsibility) of the unit spanned over remote rugged mountainous terrain with extreme weather conditions, especially in the winter season. The unit troops were deployed on various forward posts and often undertook patrol to monitor the area in between the manned posts. The area, located at an altitude of 14,500 feet, witnessed inclement weather with heavy snowfall in the first week of Feb 2022. The area also recorded 90 mm rainfall between January 1 and February 8—more than 20% excess than normal.  Also, heavy snowfall often blocked the roads and hampered the movement of troops which necessitated frequent clearance operations. Hav Jugal Kishore was leading one such patrol cum snow clearance team on 06 Feb 2022. 

As the troops were traversing through the planned route in Chume Gyater area near Yangtse, closer to China border, a horrific avalanche struck them. The magnitude and suddenness of the avalanche did not give any time to Hav Jugal Kishore and his comrades to take any evasive actions. As a result, Hav Jugal Kishore and six other soldiers got trapped under tons of snow. A massive rescue operation was launched by the army and specialized equipment too were airlifted to aid the search. After searching for nearly two days, the rescue team eventually managed to locate the bodies of the soldiers on 08 Feb 2022, but by that time they had lost their lives owing to prolonged exposure to extreme cold conditions. Besides Hav Jugal Kishore, the other brave hearts included Rfn Arun Kattal, Rfn Akshay Pathania, Rfn Vishal Sharma, Rfn Rakesh Singh, Rfn Ankesh Bhardwaj and Gnr Gurbaj Singh.  Hav Jugal Kishore Sharma was a brave and committed soldier, who laid down his life in the line of his duty.

Hav Jugal Kishore Sharma is survived by his parents, wife, daughter and elder brother