Pankaj Arora, SM

Biography

Lieutenant Pankaj Arora was born on 20 September 1978 and hailed from Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh. From his growing-up years he nurtured a strong inclination to join the armed forces and steadfastly pursued that dream. After completing his graduation, he was selected for the army through the Combined Defence Services Examination and joined the Indian Military Academy. He was commissioned on 10 December 2002, at the age of 24, into the 18th Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment, an infantry regiment renowned for its intrepid soldiers and numerous battle honours. In August 2003, Lt Pankaj's unit was deployed in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir for counter-insurgency operations. He was especially pleased with this first assignment, as he had belonged to "Poonch" company during his IMA days. The area of responsibility was a hotbed of militant activity, demanding constant vigilance. In a short time Lt Pankaj mastered the fieldcraft skills required for counter-insurgency work and built up a network of local informants to support the unit's intelligence-gathering efforts. Acting on information about hardcore terrorists in the area, the unit launched an operation on 24 August 2003, with Lt Pankaj tasked to lead it along with a few of his soldiers. Reaching the suspected location as planned, the team was ambushed by over fifteen terrorists lying in wait. Though caught by surprise, Lt Pankaj swiftly reorganised his men and retaliated, showing great courage and single-handedly eliminating two terrorists. However, misled by deliberately false information from a local informant, he and his team were caught off-guard, and he was captured and subsequently tortured; his body was recovered later by unit personnel. For his outstanding courage, leadership and supreme sacrifice, Lt Pankaj Arora was awarded the Sena Medal.