Jyoti Prakash Nirala honoured with India’s highest peacetime military decoration “Ashoka Chakra”

Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala, an Indian Air Force Garud commando, has been posthumously honoured with the India’s highest peacetime military decoration “Ashoka Chakra” for service and exhibiting bravery in fighting the militants at the 69th Republic Day 2018. Nirala laid down his life while gunning down two terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s Bandipora district in November 2017. He is the first airman to receive the award for ground combat and only the third one to receive it overall after Suhas Biswas and Rakesh Sharma. Corporal Nirala was part of a Garud Special Forces Unit of the IAF, a detachment of which was attached to a Rashtriya Rifles battalion under the aegis of ‘Op Rakshak’. Ashok Chakra is the highest peacetime military decoration for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield.