Galwan martyr Col. Santosh Babu accorded Mahavir Chakra posthumously

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Colonel Bikumalla Santosh Babu, the commanding officer of the 16 Bihar regiment who led from the front against the brutal Chinese attack in Galwan Valley in June last year, was on Tuesday posthumously awarded Mahavir Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind for displaying ‘exemplary courage’ during the clash.

Babu’s wife B Santoshi and mother Manjula received the award at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the top military brass of the country. Mahavir Chakra is the second-highest military award for acts of gallantry in the presence of the enemy.

Four other soldiers, Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren, Havildar (Gunner) K Palani, Naik Deepak Singh and Sepoy Gurtej Singh, who also laid down their lives valiantly fighting the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley clash on June 15 last year, have been conferred with Vir Chakra awards posthumously. Naib Soren’s wife Laxmi Mani Soren, Havildar Palani’s wife Vanathi Devi and Naik Singh’s wife, Rekha Singh, received the awards from the President.

Sepoy Gurtej Singh’s mother Prakash Kaur and father Virsa Singh received the Vir Chakra from the President. Twenty Indian Army personnel has laid down their lives in the fierce hand-to-hand combat in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley clash, an incident that marked the most serious military conflicts between the two sides in decades.