Munim Singh Bhadoriya on 5 September received a parcel which contained his son, Lance Naik Gopal Singh Bhadoriya’s Shaurya Chakra. The soldier was conferred upon the country’s third-highest gallantry award in 2018, but was delayed owing to a dispute between his wife and parents over service benefits
Lance Naik Gopal Singh Bhadoriya was awarded the Shaurya Chakra in 2018 for the bravery he displayed while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Image Courtesy:
@DeepikaBhardwaj/Twitter
Imagine this scenario: Your son has made the ultimate sacrifice and laid down his life for the country. After a delayed amount of time, you receive the Shaurya Chakra awarded to him in a parcel labelled ‘Gallantry’.
What would your feelings be? Would you be enraged at the situation?
Munim Singh Bhadoriya residing in Ahmedabad’s Bapunagar is currently facing this situation and he’s angry beyond words. After receiving his son’s gallantry award through a courier, the 60-year-old security officer is livid. “Do not insult our son’s sacrifice by sending his gallantry medal by post. We will not accept the same. Protocol has to be followed,” he has been quoted as saying to mid-day.
Bhadoriya did not sign for the parcel and requested the postman to take it back. “The medal is the heart of my son who sacrificed his life in the service of the country; he has earned the medal by his blood. It is sacred and should be given the honour it deserves,” Bhadoriya told Rediff.com, adding, “It should not have been sent by post, but presented in the formal defence investiture ceremony by the supreme commander of the armed forces at Rashtrapati Bhavan like it is done for all gallantry awardees. This way, Indian people will come to know of my son’s bravery which will inspire many young soldiers.”
“My son’s valour is being denied its rightful honour,” said the distressed father.
We take a closer look at why the award was delayed and the controversy over it being couriered to the parents.
Man at the heart of the row
In 2017, Lance Naik Gopal Singh Bhadoriya, from the Rashtriya Rifles, laid down his life at the age of 33 during a gun battle with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
The counter-terrorism operation that claimed his life occurred on 12 February 2017. Acting on intel, Lance Naik Bhadoriya and his colleagues busted a house where Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were hiding at Nagbal village, 70 kilometre south of Srinagar.
He along with Sepoy Raghubir Singh were the lead pair that entered the house and launched an assault on the holed up terrorists. Both the soldiers displayed exceptional bravery without caring for personal safety and sustained grievous injuries in the heavy gun battle. Four terrorists were killed by security forces that night.
Both Lance Naik Bhadoriya and Sepoy Singh succumbed to their injuries. They were conferred upon with the Shaurya Chakra posthumously.
Lance Naik Bhadoriya in his 14 years’ service had been part of other daring operations too. In 2008, he was part of the National Security Guard and part of the team that was sent to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel during the 26/11 terror attacks where he rescued many guests who were trapped inside.
During the operations, he pulled out an injured security personnel too, but the latter passed away in hospital.
Lance Naik Bhadoriya was awarded the Vishishth Seva Medal for his bravery in extremely hostile conditions.
Delay in the award
After Lance Naik Bhadoriya passed away, his family was informed of him being awarded the country’s third highest medal for gallantry — the Shaurya Chakra.
However, his award was put on hold because of a dispute between his former wife and his parents about the rightful next of kin to receive the award.
According to a plea filed by Lance Naik Bhadoriya’s parents, the soldier married Hemavati in 2007. However, four years later, the couple decided to dissolve their marriage and it was registered with the notary in November 2011.
According to The Print, the plea was not pursued as the soldier was busy in service and Hemavati had moved abroad. The dissolution application was dismissed in 2013.
When Lance Naik Bhadoriya was selected for the Shaurya Chakra in 2018, Hemavati came forward to claim his service benefits, which was contested by his parents, leading to a legal battle.
It was during this time that Munim Singh Bhadoriya wrote a letter to the ministry of defence requesting them not to present the award to the divorced wife until the court gave its final order regarding the rightful next of kin.
In September 2021, the matter was settled and the City Civil Court in Ahmedabad ruled that the parents would receive the gallantry award, while the pension is split between the two parties.
Army sends award
Following the resolution of the court case, Munim Singh Bhadoriya sent the court order to the Integrated Headquarter of the ceremonial and welfare section of the Indian Army and requested that the Shaurya Chakra be presented to them at the defence investiture ceremony since the matter had been duly settled by the court.
On 5 July, the Army wrote a letter to Munim Singh stating, “If any awardee is unable to receive the award in the investiture ceremony in which their name has been listed (2018 in this case), he shall not be invested with the same in the subsequent ceremony. And hence the request to receive the award from the President of India was not approved and the Director General Signals has been entrusted with the responsibility of handing over the medal and certificate,” read the letter.
In accordance to the letter, on 5 September, Munim Singh received a parcel from an Army unit in Jabalpur. The courier had the word ‘gallantry’ written on it, indicating it was the long-awaited medal for their son.
“We will not accept the Shaurya Chakra by post. It must be conferred by the President as is protocol,” Munim Singh was quoted as telling The Print.
“Any other form of conferment is denying my son due honour,” he added.
He further states that a Himachal Pradesh high court judgment last year said that gallantry award recipients should be conferred in ceremonial functions only on Independence Day or Republic Day. “The court order said that sending the medal by courier was a breach of protocol,” he further said.
Munim Singh now waits in the hope that the Army and the Centre will heed his request and that he is invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan to receive the honour for his son.
With inputs from agencies
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