Dilip Kumar Jha, KC

Biography

Captain Dilip Kumar Jha was born on 2 January 1977 in Haripur village of Darbhanga district, Bihar. He completed his early schooling in Katihar before moving to Mussoorie, where he studied at Oak Grove Boys' School from 1985 to 1995. A gifted athlete, he was appointed school athletics captain in 1994. Driven by a lifelong ambition to serve in the armed forces, he was selected for the National Defence Academy in 1995 and later trained at the Indian Military Academy, commissioning as a Lieutenant in 1999. Though commissioned into the Army Ordnance Corps in December 1999, he was attached to the 7 Jat Regiment and was promoted to Captain in 2001. In 2002, he served with his unit in the militancy-affected Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. As a Ghatak platoon commander, he took part in eight major counter-terrorism operations, in which over 27 terrorists were eliminated. On the night of 2 October 2002, while on patrol in the Mendhar Sector, he spotted a group of terrorists infiltrating through a nullah. Disregarding his own safety, he engaged them at close quarters, killing one and then pursuing and eliminating the remaining two. During the fierce exchange of fire he was struck by bullets and laid down his life at the age of 25. For his exemplary courage, leadership and supreme sacrifice, Captain Dilip Kumar Jha was awarded the Kirti Chakra.