Women Awardees Of Ashok Chakra In India

Ashok Chakra is the highest peacetime award by the Republic of India to people for their valour, courageous action, or self-sacrifice made by them away from the battlefield. It can be awarded to military or civilian personnel. The gallantry awards of India are announced two times in a year- Republic Day(January 26) and Independence Day(August 15). In the order of precedence, Ashok Chakra is the second highest gallantry award after Param Vir Chakra and is followed by Mahavir Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra, and Shaurya Chakra.

Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra are conferred by the President of India to awardees or the next-of-kin during the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath, New Delhi. As we enter the 73rd year of being Republic, let's look into the lives of two brave-hearted women of India who received Ashok Chakra posthumously by the Indian Government.

Women Awardees Of Ashok Chakra -

Neerja Bhanot- 

Neerja Bhanot was a Punjabi girl born in Chandigarh and brought up in Mumbai. She did her schooling in Mumbai and later on got a modelling assignment in the city which helped her propel her modelling career. She became the face of many apparel brands at that time when people from posters were considered very famous.

Bhanot was a huge fan of superstar and Bollywood actor Rajesh Khanna and idealised the quotes from her movies. She applied for the position of flight attendant at Pan-Am of United States and went for the training. However, she returned as a purser and continued her modelling along with her job at Pan Am. 

She was part of the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 73 going from Mumbai to the United States via Karachi and Frankfurt which was hijacked by four men on September 5, 1986, at Karachi airport. Bhanot signaled the cockpit members of the hijack and all of them ran away from the overhead hatch so that hijackers could not misuse them to fly to a destination of their own choice.

As they were specifically targeting the American citizens, Bhanot took care that all the passports of American citizens were thrown in the rubbish chute or hidden so that hijackers don't get to identify them.

Neerja Bhanot helped all the people on board with courage and while saving three children get off the plane on evacuation, got caught by terrorists, who shot her point-blank.

One of the children on the plane who is now a captain with the airline company considers Bhanot to be his inspiration to pursue a career in aviation.

For her heroic act, she was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra and became the youngest recipient of the prestigious award. She also received awards from the American government and the Pakistan government. A movie based on the life of the brave-hearted woman was made on her name "Neerja" and starred Sonam Kapoor in the titular role. 

Kamlesh Kumari-

Kumari belonged to Kannauj of Uttar Pradesh and the family had lived in New Delhi as well. Kamlesh Kumari started her career with Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) in the year 1994. She was posted with 104 Rapid Action Force (RAF) in Allahabad. The organisation of RAF deals with deal with riots, riot-like situations, crowd control, rescue and relief operations, and related unrest. Later on, during July 2001, she was appointed in the 88 Mahila Battalion and the Bravo Company(which was formed to secure the Parliament building when in session.)

She was a constable with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at the time of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. On December 13, five terrorists stormed into the Parliament building heavily armed while the house was in session. 

A white Ambassador car broke inside the Parliament compound where she tried to stop the car but failed. She was not equipped with any weaponry (at that time women forces were not given guns ) and simply used the walkie-talkie with her to alert the other CRPF officers and shouted to alert them as well.

However, she was shot by the terrorists. The gunshots alerted remaining officers and the terrorists were later shot dead. She took 11 bullets in her body and became a martyr saving many leaders and other officers in the premises of Parliament. She was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra by the Government of India for her prime sacrifice and her husband Avdhesh Kumar received the order for her. 

Kamlesh Kumari is survived by her two children and husband. On December 13, 2006, her family along with the families of eight security officials who had been honored for their bravery during the attacks, returned the Ashok Chakra award to the government after there was a delay in the execution of Parliament attack mastermind Mohammad Afzal. However, after he was hanged till death in 2003, the families agreed to accept back the awards given to them.