Havildar Parmal Singh Khatana

Havildar Parmal Singh hailed from Narasingh Pura village in Hindon City tehsil of Karauli district in Rajasthan and was born on 25 Jan 1981. Son of Shri Kamal Singh Khatana and Smt Rumanti Devi, he was inclined to join the armed forces since his younger days like many young lads of his village. He continued to follow his dream and eventually, joined the Army after completing his school education. He donned the Army uniform on 07 Feb 1999, at the age of 18 years.

He was recruited into the 4 Rajput battalion of the Rajput Regiment, an infantry Regiment well known for its fearless soldiers and numerous battle exploits. After completing his training, he gradually developed into a dedicated and professionally competent soldier. By the year 2015, he had served in various operational areas and had been promoted to the rank of Havildar.

 Khonsa Attack (Arunachal Pradesh) : 02 Apr 2015

During 2015, Hav Parmal Singh's unit 4 Rajput was deployed in Arunachal Pradesh for counter-insurgency operations. The AOR(Area of Responsibility) of the unit spanned over remote rugged mountainous terrain with extreme weather conditions, especially in the winter season. The troops were deployed on various forward posts and often undertook patrol to monitor the area in between the manned posts. The mountainous roads in the AOR of the unit were narrow and had steep gradients posing serious challenges to the quick movement of troops. Hav Parmal Singh and his comrades were tasked for an operation on 02 April 2015 and had to move by road to the operational area. The plan was to move Hav Parmal Singh and other troops in a four-vehicle convoy.

As planned the convoy set off in the morning of 02 Apr from the 'Base Camp' in Tinsukhia district of Assam to Longding district in Arunachal Pradesh. However, as the convoy reached Khonsa area of Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh, the militants launched a surprise attack in a pre-planned move.  The militants resorted to indiscriminate firing from vantage points to cause maximum causalities. The attack was very sudden and devastating, giving no time for the soldiers to take any effective action. Consequently, Hav Parmal Singh, and two other soldiers got severely injured and soon succumbed to their injures. Besides Hav Parmal Singh the other martyred soldiers included Hav Charan Singh Gurjar from Madhya Pradesh and Hav Sanjeev Singh from Uttar Pradesh. Hav Parmal Singh was a gallant and motivated soldier, who at the young age of 34 years, laid down his life in the service of the nation.

Hav Parmal Singh is survived by his wife Smt Suman Devi.