2nd Lieutenant Puneet Nath Datt

2nd Lieutenant Puneet Nath Datt, son of Major Pramod Nath Datt, was born on 29 April 1973 in Jodhpur. He was commissioned in 1/11 Gorkha Rifles on 9 December 1995. On 19 July 1997, 2nd Lt. Datt, had received information that a group of mercenaries had arrived at a house in the Nowshera locality of Soura, Srinagar. This was the area that his company was responsible for and he was excited. His field notebook had lists of suspected militants in the area, it also had a plain, unmarked sketch of what appears to be a house. Late that night, his company, along with two others, was ordered to surround the area. The Gorkhas decided to begin their search of the locality from a locked three-storeyed house as it appeared to be the most suspicious there. He first tried to spook out the mercenaries by throwing stones at the doors and windows. Then, one of the soldiers was ordered to fire at the 3rd floor of the house. Provoked or panicked, the militants holed up inside also opened fire and a 3-hour long encounter began. 2nd Lt. Datt was at the outer wall of the compound, crouched and raking the 3-storeyed strongly built house with rifle and machine-gun fire. He seemed to be absolutely fearless as he took pot-shots at the windows and lobbed grenades. But to little avail. The solidly-built house took all the punishment. The company then used its 84mm Carl Gustaf rocket launchers with the hope of blasting the militants. But the rockets went clean through without exploding inside. At this point, they did not know how many persons were in the house or where they were hiding.

Bullets seemed to rain from all three floors, the boundary wall and the open space around the house prevented a direct assault. Suddenly, one of the militants exposed himself on a first-floor balcony to fire at the Gorkhas. In a flash, 2nd Lt. Datt jumped up and fired a snap burst from his AK-47, felling him. Colonel B.K. Chaudhry, Datt's Commanding Officer, decided that the only option left was to blast their way into the house. This was not an easy job. The rear compound wall was lower and offered a way in for someone to jump over it to place a charge on the wall of the house. But whoever did so would be vulnerable for those seconds it would take to jump over, place the charge, and scramble back before the blast went off. But he insisted on taking up the task. The moment he jumped over the wall, he almost ran smack into one of the militants making a dash for freedom towards a nullah and a copse of trees to the marshy Nagin lake beyond. They came face to face in the narrow space between the house and compound wall. 2nd Lt. Datt's reflexes were faster. He swung his AK-47 up and shot him dead as well. After that, he placed the charge, jumped back across the boundary wall and set off the blast.

Then, crouching down, he and another Officer took turns tossing grenades at the house where the last surviving militant, now down on the first floor, periodically opened fire at them in return. At some point, the last militant spotted 2nd Lt. Datt and fired at him. But at that very moment, he too let off a burst and killed the militant. He then suddenly appeared to rock back where he was crouched. There was blood in his mouth and he was evacuated to hospital by his fellow Officers, thinking it was just a minor injury from flying grenade shrapnel. A few hours later, he passed away. A bullet fired by the militant, or a ricochet, hit him in the mouth and exited a little below his ear. The incident that led to 2nd Lt. Datt's death was typical but, as his colleagues recount, his valour was uncommon. What is special is not just the action, his burning zeal to make a mark as a combat leader at the young age of 24. His mother, Mrs. Anita Dutt, received the Ashok Chakra, India's highest peace-time gallantry medal, from the President of India on behalf of her brave son. Jai Hind!! Jai Jawan!!

Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gorkhali!!! - An article written by Col. (retd.) SNC Bakshi