On the occasion of Independence Day,the President has approved 114 gallantry awards for Armed Forces,paramilitary and police personnel including one Ashok Chakra,the highest peacetime gallantry award,two Kirti Chakras,two Bar to Shaurya Chakras and 19 Shaurya Chakras. While Major Laishram Jyotin Singh has been awarded the Ashok Chakra,the Kirti Chakra has been awarded to a young Army officer who first rescued his colleagues and then killed a terrorist before succumbing to injuries and a Superintendent of Police who died while battling over 300 Maoists in Chhattisgarh. Captain Davinder Singh Jass,a special forces officer,led a team of his men to a militant hideout in Sopore in February this year when his team came under heavy fire. He rescued one of his men who was injured in the attack and then another when he was badly injured by gunfire. However,he kept going and killed a foreign terrorist in hand-to-hand combat before succumbing to his injuries. SP Vinod Kumar Choubey of Rajnandgaon,Chhattisgarh,rushed to the Madanwara outpost under his jurisdiction as soon as he learnt that it came under heavy attack by Naxalites in July last year. Even though his convoy was ambushed,he kept going and reached the spot. To break the Naxal attack,he charged on their position head on and managed to scatter them. He died of the grievous injuries he sustained.
