The Indian Air Force (IAF) Garud Commando Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala has been posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime gallantry award, for his role during a counter-terrorist operation in Jammu and Kashmir where he single-handedly gunned down two militants and injured two others. He is the first-ever IAF airman — the equivalent of a jawan in Army — to get the gallantry medal for a ground combat operation.

Nirala hailed from Balwadih village in Rohtas district of Bihar. He was the only son of Tej Narayan Nirala, a farmer, and has four sisters, one of them married. The family has just one bigha of cultivable land. Nirala’s father said: “Though we had been called to Chandigarh and later to Delhi, we were not told about the purpose. It is surely a moment of pride for all of us that my son has won Ashoka Chakra. We want people to share our grief and pride as well”. He added that his son had been supporting the education of three of his sisters.

Nirala was part of a detachment of IAF Garud Commando unit that was attached to a Rashtriya Rifles Battalion under the aegis of ‘Operation Rakshak’ in Jammu & Kashmir. This was part of On the Job situation training for the IAF commandos. On November 18, 2017, based on specific intelligence, an offensive was launched jointly by the Garud detachment and Rashtriya Rifles Battalion in Chanderger village of J&K’s Bandipora district.

The Garud detachment, Nirala’s citation states, covertly approached the target house where the suspected terrorists were hiding and laid a close quarter ambush. Nirala, displaying exceptional battlecraft, positioned himself close to the approach of the hideout, thus cutting off all possibilities of an escape by the terrorists, it said.