Surjan Singh Bhandari, KC

Biography

Born in 1980 in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, Surjan Singh Bhandari joined the Indian Army in 1999 at the age of 19. He was recruited into the Garhwal Scouts battalion of The Garhwal Rifles Regiment and stationed at Joshimath. His exceptional skills, discipline and dedication earned him a place in the National Security Guard's elite 51 Special Action Group. On 24 September 2002, heavily armed terrorists stormed the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, killing nearly 30 people and wounding over 100. The NSG launched counter-terror Operation Vajra Shakti to neutralise the attackers. Rifleman Surjan Singh volunteered to lead the assault as the squadron's scout, advancing ahead of his Squadron Commander under intense enemy fire. Crawling behind a low wall, he delivered accurate fire that enabled his squad to push forward. Despite splinter injuries to his face, he pressed on. When his Commander came under direct fire, Rifleman Surjan Singh shielded him by diving in front of him, absorbing further wounds himself. Even after sustaining severe injuries, he kept fighting, lobbing grenades and returning fire on the terrorists. Spotting a muzzle flash, he engaged the position with a burst of fire but took a critical splinter wound to the head and was rendered unconscious. Evacuated to the civil hospital in Ahmedabad, he remained in a coma for nearly 600 days before succumbing to his injuries on 19 May 2004. For his unflinching courage, supreme self-sacrifice and dedication to duty, Rifleman Surjan Singh Bhandari was awarded the Kirti Chakra (Posthumous), India's second-highest peacetime gallantry honour.