Rifleman Sanjay Kumar of 13 JAK Rifles charged two sangars on Flat Top, Point 4875, on 4 July 1999, and refused evacuation despite his wounds.
Flat Top, Point 4875
On 4 July 1999, 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles attacked Point 4875 in the Mushkoh Valley. Rifleman Sanjay Kumar volunteered to be a leading scout in the column sent for the area called Flat Top.
Automatic fire from a sangar stopped the column. He charged it. In the hand-to-hand fight he killed three of the intruders and was seriously wounded.
The second sangar
He went on to the next sangar. Its defenders were caught by surprise and ran, abandoning a universal machine gun. He picked up the gun and fired on them as they fled.
He was bleeding heavily by then and refused to be evacuated. The rest of the column charged on across the terrain and took Flat Top.
Bakain village to Subedar Major
Sanjay Kumar was born on 3 March 1976 and comes from Bakain village in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. He joined the Army on 26 June 1996 and was posted to 13 JAK Rifles.
Three days after his action, his battalion's Captain Vikram Batra was killed on the same feature, and he too received the Param Vir Chakra. Sanjay Kumar stayed in service and was promoted to Subedar Major in February 2022.
The citation
RIFLEMAN SANJAY KUMAR (13760533), 13 JAMMU AND KASHMIR RIFLES
Rifleman Sanjay Kumar volunteered to be the leading scout of the attacking column tasked to capture area Flat Top of Point 4875 in the Mushkoh Valley on 04 July 1999.
As the attack progressed, enemy automatic fire from one of the Sangars posed stiff opposition, thereby stalling the column. Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, realising the gravity of the situation, displayed indomitable spirit and unadulterated courage when he charged the enemy Sangar with utter disregard to personal safety. In the ensuing hand to hand combat, he killed three of the intruders and was himself seriously injured. Despite being injured, he charged on to the second Sangar. The enemy was taken totally by surprise and they left behind one universal machine gun and started running. Rifleman Sanjay Kumar picked up the weapon left behind by the enemy and killed the fleeing enemy. Although Rifleman Sanjay Kumar was profusely bleeding from his wounds he refused to be evacuated. This super-human act of Rifleman Sanjay Kumar motivated his comrades, who took no notice of the treacherous terrain and charged on to the enemy thus wresting the area Flat Top from the hands of the enemy.
Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, thus, displayed most conspicuous and extraordinary gallantry, cool courage and devotion to duty of an exceptionally high order in the face of enemy.
Source: Ministry of Defence gallantry awards record. Reproduced as printed, including any errors in the original.
Cover image: Shiv Aroor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for this page. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanjay_Kumar_PVC_%28cropped%29.jpg