Shashank Tiwari, KC

Biography

Lieutenant Shashank Tiwari was born on 24 January 2002 in Ayodhya, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Drawn to a life in uniform from an early age, he joined the National Defence Academy as part of its 146th course and went on to train at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He was commissioned into the Indian Army on 14 December 2024 and assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Sikkim Scouts, a unit deployed in the high-altitude terrain along the northern borders. In May 2025, Lieutenant Tiwari's battalion was engaged in route-opening and snow-clearance operations in North Sikkim, close to the Indo-China border. On 22 May 2025, during one such patrol from Bichhu to Chu Junction, a fellow soldier, Agniveer Stephan Subba, lost his footing and was swept into a fast-flowing mountain stream. Without a moment's hesitation, Lieutenant Tiwari plunged into the icy, surging water to save him. His comrade was pulled to safety, but the powerful current carried Lieutenant Tiwari away before he could be rescued. For his exceptional courage, presence of mind and selfless devotion to a comrade's life over his own, Lieutenant Shashank Tiwari was posthumously awarded the Kirti Chakra, the nation's second-highest peacetime gallantry award.