Ashoka Chakra awarded posthumously to IAF commando Jyoti Prakash Nirala on R Day
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IBNS) : Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military award, was posthumously conferred on Indian Air Force's Garud Commando Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala on the 69th Republic Day on Friday in recognition of his exemplary valour during an anti-terror operation in Jammu and Kashmir last year, when he had single-handedly shot down three terrorists.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Ashoka Chakra to Jyoti Prakash Nirala's mother Malti Singh and wife Sushma during the R Day celebrations in New Delhi.
Corporal Nirala became the first Indian Air Force Commando to receive the award after his death.
Six terrorists were shot dead during a fierce gun battle in Chandergeer, a village in the Hajin area of Kashmir's Bandipora district on November 18 last year.
Among the slain terrorists was the nephew of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and 26/11 Mumbai terror mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
Corporal Nirala alone shot dead three terrorists before laying down his life.
A resident of Bihar's Rohtas district, Corporal Nirala had joined the Indian Air Force in 2005. He was part of joint team comprising Garud commandos and Rashtriya Rifles.
Kirti Chakra, the second highest peacetime military award, has been conferred on Major Vijayant Bisht of the Army who led an ambush in Chorgali forest of Jammu and Kashmir's Uri district, killed two terrorists and saved the life of another soldier during an ambush.
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