Captain Vikram Batra PVC

Early Life and Education

Vikram Batra was born on 9 september 1974 in palampur,Himachal Pradesh.He was the third child of shree Girdharilal Batra and shreemati kamal kanta Batra ,he was born as twin and was elder of twin sons and had two elder sisters his secondary education was done in D.A.V school palampur and  he received senior secondary education from central school  

Later,he attended D.A.V college and completed his graduation in medical science.At college,he joined the Air Wing of the NCC in his first year.During the Inter-State NCC camp he was awarded as the best Air wing cadet of North zone after that he went through 40 day paratrooping training.

Following completion of his bachelor's degree in 1995,he went for his higher studies in chandigarh where he took admission in MA,so that he could prepare for CDS examination 

in 1996 he qualified the examination and got selected in the SSB at Allahabad (also known as the rejection centre).because of his determination and hard work and went on to join the IMA,Dehradun.  

Military Career

Vikram Batra joined the IMA in june 1996 in the Manekshaw Battalion.After completing his 19-month training course,he graduated from the IMA on 6 December 1997 and was commisioned as lieutenant into the 13JAK RIF.

He was posted to Sopore,Baramulla district,Jammu and Kashmir, an area with significant militant activity.he went under further training at Mhow,Madhya Pradesh for the Young Officer Course.This training lasted for five months untill september 1998.Folowing the completion of his training ,he rejoined his battalion in Sopore in October in 1998.

During his posting in Sopore,he had several encounter with militants out of all those in one operation Vikram had a miraculous escape when a bullet fired by militant grazed through his shoulder and struck one of his men behind him,killing the soldier.Capt Vikram Batra proceeded to order his men to nab the militants ,and by morning all of the militants were killed. after the operation while talking to his elder sister he said

"didi, it was meant for me and i lost my man".

Love Story

when it comes to love story we all remember heer-ranjha,romeo-juliet,shirin-farhad but there are many love stories which we never heard about and those are of soldiers ,so our Sher Shah had really bollywood kind of love story.

Vikram Batra and his fiance Dimple cheema met at punjab university  later Vikram had to leave the punjab university in order to join the IMA but till then he had already fallen in love and whenever he used to come home on the leave he used to visit Neugal cafe to meet her.

The pressure of marriage were heavy and they both knew they were meant for each other.In an interview,Dimple Cheema revealed the beautiful love story that unfolded between her and Vikram Batra. On one ocassion,Vikram and Dimple's families were on a visit to Mansa Devi  temple and Gurudwara sri Nada Sahab. as they completed the parikrama,Vikram said to Dimple "Congratulations,Mrs batra."it was then she realised he had been holding her dupatta all the while.and it shows how that army men know how to love.

When Dimple grew restless because of the pressure of getting married Vikram,in filmy style he took out his blade and slit his thumb and used his blood as sindoor to fill her maang.

on one day when they were in the cafe dimple said him to take care of himself during war he said "ya toh tiranga lehra kar aaunga yaa usme lipat kar aaunga par aaunga jarur"

though fate played cruel turn in their love story,Dimple kept Vikram's memory alive and has preserved his letters and gifts as tokens of his love.she chose not to marry and take pride in what Vikram did for the country.

Not all heroes get a happily ever after,but perhaps thats the price a hero pays to become a hero.when Captain Vikram Batra gave the supreme sacrifice in Kargil on 7 july 1999 it was not one but two souls who scrificed themselves at the altar of duty.

Role in Kargil War

Point 5140

The task of capturing point 5140 was assigned to 13 JAK RIF under the command Lt Col Yogesh Kumar Joshi on june 17 . The attack was planned with two units B coy and D coy

the D coy was led by Capt Vikarm Batra and his winning signal was "yeh dil maange more".

Vikram decided to approach hill from rear to cut out the withdrawl routes of the enemy ,he along with his five men climbed and destroyed the bunker of machine guns by tossing two hand grenades,there after he killed three enemy in close fight and was seriousy injured in the process but suffered no casualties and at 0435 hrs he gave information to the base "yeh dil maange more". 

Point 4875

after the capture of point 5140 , 13 JAK RIF was moved to muskooh valley in order to volunteer the point 4875 which was very much essential as from there NH1 was very much in range and so pakistani artillery observer could easily keep an eye on supplies of indian army and could easily cut down the supplies by launching an attack on NH1.on 4 july Indian Army started to ascend but faced severe casualties as pakistani sniper and artillery support was very strong.

Vikram was then sleeping in his sleeping bags as he had severe fever and also was recovering from  the injuries he got in capturing point 5140 but on listening to the news of casualties and his men stucking in between fire he asked his CO to let him march to support them but his request was denied as he had severe fever.By seeing his determination and courage 25 other men of the company decided to join Batra in helping the troops.they were not feared of being court marshal or any court case as the josh was too high.

on july 6 it was said through wireless that sher shah is going to take command over the area flat top because it was an important position from battle point of view where a sea saw battle was going. 

Batra located the position of the enemy sangar on the ledge from which enemy machine guns were holding up the advance of his company.by this tie he realised that there was no way from the left or right,decided to make a direct assault.At great personal risk and under heavy fire he moved forward,screaming the battle cry "durga mata ki jai" and started firing incessantly from his AK-47.he sustained griveous injuries in the process but he killed 5 pakistani soldier in a close combat.However , there was still an enemy machine gun nest in action on that ledge that had to be silenced.Four pakistani soldier including a JCO,who was guiding the fire on the indian soldiers fighting outside.An enraged Batra quickly charged forward alone ,killing all four pakistani soldier.

Suddenly he realised that One of his men had been shot .Turning toward Subdear Raghunath Singh,who was postioned behind a boulder,Vikram shouted "aap aur mai usko evacuate karenge".with bullets flying around him,he pushed Singh toward safer side and placed himself between Singh and the enemy saying"tu baal bachedar hai"."mai sar ke taraf rahunga aur aap paanv uthayenge".He courageously exposed himself to enemy fire to drag the injured soldier to safety,and in the process was shot in the chest by an enemy sniper from very close range and second -later, by an splinter from an RPG which hit him in the head.Vikram collapsed next to the injured soldier,succumbing to his fatal wounds. 

Param Vir Chakra

Vikram Batra was awarded the Param Vir Chakra,India's highest military honor on 15 August 1999,the 52nd anniversary of India's Independence.His father Girdhari Lal Batra received the honor for his deceased Son from the President of India,the late K.R.Narayanan.