Handwara martyr had won two gallantry awards within 18 months

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 3

Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, the commander of the 21 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), who laid down his life battling terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Handwara on Saturday night, has been decorated twice with gallantry awards. Both his awards came within 18 months of each other.

He was decorated with the Sena Medal (Gallantry) twice — in the Army parlance he was ‘Sena Medal Bar’. It is the fourth highest peace time gallantry award for the services and for actions of bravery.

The Colonel, who hailed from Uttar Pradesh, was from The Brigade of The Guards, a mechanised infantry regiment. He has been on duty with the 21 RR for the past two years.

His first gallantry award was announced on Republic Day in 2018, when he was Lt Colonel and second in command of the 21 RR. This was for an operation done in the valley.

Just 18 months later on Independence Day in 2019, the Government conferred a second gallantry award on him for yet another operation done to counter terrorists.

On Saturday evening at Handwara, the Colonel led from the front in an operation to free civilian hostages from terrorists hiding in a house.

The Indian Army spokesperson in Delhi said: “They successfully extricated the civilians. However, during the process, the team was subjected to heavy volume of fire by the terrorists. In the ensuing firefight two terrorists were eliminated.”

Five security personnel — two Army officers, two Army soldiers and one JK Police Sub-Inspector — were killed in action.

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