Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami, who had killed two terrorists and helped neutralise two others, while saving the lives of two wounded soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir last September, has been posthumously awarded India's highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashok Chakra. Goswami was a member of a 9 Para-Special Forces. He was chasing militants as part of a patrol in Kupwara's Haphruda forest on September 2 when four heavily-armed terrorists suddenly opened fire and he was killed in the encounter.
Defence Service Corps C) sepoy Jagdish Chand was among four honoured with the Kirti Chakra, the second-highest peacetime gallantry award. He was killed by one of the recent Pathankot attackers after snatching his gun before he was himself shot dead by the other attackers. The other three are Subedar Mahendra Singh (9 Para-SF), head constable Rajesh Atra and constable Gautam Koch (posthumous).
Four of the 11 Shaurya Chakra awardees also received the award posthumously. Colonel Santosh Yaswant Mahadik (41 Rashtriya Rifles), Naik Satish Kumar (21 Rashtriya Rifles), sepoy Dharma Ram (1 Rashtriya Rifle) and constable Shri Rocky. Other awardees are Major Praphul Kumar Bhardwaj (12 Para-Sf), Major Anurag Kumar (9 Para-SF), Major Sandip Yadav (55 Rashtriya Rifles), Lieutenant Harjinder Singh (3 Kumaon), Naik Kheem Singh Mehra (21 Kumaon) and Rakesh Kumar Sharma and Bikramjeet.
Shaurya Chakra awardee Rocky, a 25-year-old BSF constable, stood like a rock before bullets and grenades fired by terrorists to save 44 soldiers in the Udhampur strike last year.
