Surendra Badsara, SM

Biography

Major Surendra Badsara was born on 13 April 1980 in Sikar district, Rajasthan, into a military family — his father, Keshar Dev Badsara, served with 17 Poona Horse, one of the Indian Army's most distinguished armoured regiments. Growing up in this environment, he aspired to serve in the armed forces from childhood. He completed his early schooling at a government school in Kudan village, continued at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, where his father was posted, and graduated from Dayanand College, Hisar, Haryana. Selected through the Combined Defence Services Examination, he was commissioned on 14 June 2003 into 46 Armoured Regiment of the Armoured Corps. He later volunteered for commando training and served with the National Security Guard's 52 Special Action Group, before joining 4 Para (Special Forces). As commanding officer of the battalion's intelligence detachment in Kupwara, he built an extensive network of sources and led several successful counter-terrorism operations, earning two citations and the Sena Medal. On 3 May 2012, during an operation in Kupwara, he killed six terrorists. Soon afterwards, an accidental discharge during a firing session left him with an abdominal wound. Despite seven major surgeries over fifty days, he succumbed to multiple organ failure on 21 June 2012, aged 32.