Second Lieutenant Shailesh Kumar SC

Second Lieutenant Shailesh Kumar was commissioned into the 10 Bihar Battalion of the Bihar Regiment, a well-known infantry Regiment. Son of Shri Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, he got the opportunity to take part in active operation very early in his service career as his unit got deployed in Punjab as part of 'Operation Bluestar'. 

Counter-Insurgency Operation (Punjab): 10 Jul 1984

During July 1984, Lt Shailesh Kumar's unit 10 Bihar was deployed in Punjab. Following the 'Operation Bluestar' in June 1984, the Indian Army got involved in counter-insurgency operations in Punjab. The extremist elements in Punjab became very active and the Army units got engaged in operations against the militants on a regular basis. On 10th Jul 1984, the security forces received credible information from intelligence sources about the presence of a group of terrorists in a village of Amritsar district in Punjab. Based on the intelligence inputs, on the 10th of July 1984, 2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar was ordered to move with 10 other ranks to assist Capt Ravi Vatsa of the unit in searching out extremists in that village in Amritsar district. Within ten minutes, he along with his detachment reached the village and climbed the rooftop of one of the houses. On reaching the rooftop, a volley of fire of weapons of all kinds came from the house of the Sarpanch Jathedar Mohan Singh.

As a result, 2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar sustained a serious injury. Unmindful of the injury, he moved up to the parapet of the rooftop and fired a sten burst on Jathedar Mohan Singh. He then kept on directing the fire from different directions on the extremists simultaneously taking care to avoid civilian casualties. However directing the controlled fire, 2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar succumbed to the injuries and was martyred. Lt Shailesh Kuma was a gallant soldier and a gritty officer, who led from the front and laid down his life in the line of his duty following the highest traditions of the Indian Army. Lt Shailesh Kumar was given the gallantry award, “Shaurya Chakra” on 26 January 1986, for his extraordinary courage, leadership, and supreme sacrifice.

The citation for ‘Shaurya Chakra” awarded to him reads:

On the 10th of July 1984, 2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar was ordered to move with 10 other ranks to assist Capt Ravi Vatsa in searching out extremists in a village in Amritsar district. Within ten minutes, he along with his detachment reached the village and climbed the rooftop of one of the houses. On reaching the rooftop a volley of fire of weapons of all sorts came from the house of the Sarpanch Jathedar Mohan Singh. 2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar sustained a serious injury. Unmindful of the injury, he moved up to the parapet of the rooftop and fired a sten burst on Jathedar Mohan Singh, and kept on directing the fire from different directions on the extremists simultaneously taking care to avoid killing of innocent persons. 2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar succumbed to the injuries in the process of directing the controlled fire.

2nd Lt Shailesh Kumar thus displayed conspicuous courage, leadership and devotion to duty of a very high order.