Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, February 16

Young Thangchonlen hails from Churachandpur, a Manipur district known for presence of more than one militant group. He also took up the gun, but he chose to defend the nation instead of harming it.

The sepoy’s brave action of gunning down a terrorist in Kashmir in July 2017 turned out to be the talking point at the investiture ceremony held at the Eastern Command headquarter at Fort William here today. The terrorist felled by Thangchonlen was Mukhtar Ahmed Lone, a member of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The encounter, in which two other terrorists were also killed, took place in a forest in Pulawama district.

“We had intelligence inputs that some terrorists were hiding in the forest. When our team approached the hideout, there was heavy firing by one of the terrorists. I realised that he was doing it to distract us so that others with him can escape. I creeped up on him from one side and killed him. His two associates also got killed in the operation,” said Thangchonlen, a member of the 42 Rastriya Rifles (RR). At the function, held under the shadow of Pulwama attack, Thangchonlen’s success against the JeM was taken note of by everyone present.

When Thangchonlen was awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry by Eastern Command chief Lt Gen MM Naravane, who wore a black armband in deference to memory of the martyred CRPF jawans, there was huge applause by the audience.

Major Sachin Singh Rawat (42 RR) also got the Sena Medal (Gallantry) for his action in an encounter that took place at Gulab Bag village in Pulawama. Seven more Army personnel were also awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry at Fort William today. Those awarded were Army Intelligence officer Lt Col Praveen Madhav Khanzode, Major Nitesh Kumar (12 Para), Major Shailendra Kumar Yadav (Assam Rifles), Major Siddharth Kumar Nayak (56 RR), Major Mayank Mishra (32 RR), Gunner Sita Ram (57 RR) and Sepoy Mahesh Singh (13 RR).