Capt. Saurabh Kalia

Capt. Saurabh Kalia

Capt. Saurabh Kalia: Captain Saurabh Singh was an officer of the Indian Army who died during the Kargil War after being held as a prisoner of war by the Pakistani security forces. He along with five other soldiers of his patrolling team was captured alive and kept in captivity where they were badly tortured and their bodies mutilated.

Saurabh was born on 30^th June 1976 at Amritsarto Mrs. Vijay and Dr. N.K. Kalia. His schooling took place in the KendriyaVidyalaya, Holta Camp Palampur followed by B.Sc. (Med.) from H. P. Agricultural University, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in 1997. He excelled at school, securing first Division and winning scholarships throughout his academic career.

He was selected in the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun in August 1997 through Combined Defense Services and was commissioned on December 12th, 1998.

On May 15, 1999 Saurabh Kalia along with five other soldiers had gone for a routine patrol of the Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sector in the rugged, treeless Ladakh Mountains. After a continuous cross fire with Pakistan armed forces from across the LoC, he and his troops ran out of ammunition. They were finally encircled by a platoon of Pakistan rangers and captured alive before any Indian reinforcement could reach for their help. No trace of this entire patrol was left meanwhile Radio Skardu of Pakistan announced that Lt. Saurabh Kalia had been captured by the Pakistani troops.

Captain Kalia and his men were in captivity for over twenty-two (May 15, 1999 – June 7, 1999) days and subjected to torture as evident from their bodies handed over by Pakistan Army on June 9, 1999. The postmortem revealed that the Pakistan army had tortured them prisoners by burning their bodies with cigarettes, piercing ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before removing them, breaking most of the teeth and bones, fracturing the skull, cutting the lips, chipping of nose, chopping off limbs and private organs of these soldiers besides inflicting all sorts of physical and mental tortures and finally shooting them dead, as evidenced by the bullet wound to the temple. The postmortem report also confirmed that injuries were inflicted ante-mortem (before death).

A youthful soldier of just 23 years sacrificed his life for the safety of his motherland. It is evident form the forms of torture that Pakistani army was willing to get the information of strategic importance from these soldiers but the love for their motherland and sincerity towards profession prevented these patriots from revealing anything. Saying that I love India is a prerogative of everyone but the one who proved this fact deserves to be called a nation hero and of course our Youth icon of this week. Bharat mata ki Jai. J