E-Paper
Injured during ops in Kupwara, Lt Col dies after 8 years in coma
On November 22, 2015, a bullet pierced Lieutenant Colonel Karanbir Singh Natt's jaw during a counter-insurgency operation near the LoC.
Lieutenant Colonel Karanbir Singh Natt, 47, breathed his last eight years at the Military Hospital in Jalandhar after being in a comatose state post a bullet injury suffered in a counter-insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015.
A Sena Medal recipient, Lt Col Natt was admitted to the military hospital in a comatose condition for the past six years.
On November 22, 2015, a bullet pierced his lower jaw during a counter-insurgency operation at Haji Naka village on the edge of a dense forest, seven kilometres from the Kupwara’s Line of Control (LoC). He was airlifted to the Army Hospital Research and Referral, New Delhi, in a critical situation and was shifted to Jalandhar military hospital in 2018 in a comatose condition, where his family members and army medics took care of him.
In all these eight years, the family members, including his 79-year-old father, Colonel Jagtar Singh Natt (retd), wife Navpreet Kaur and daughters Guneet (19) and Ashmeet (9), were hoping and praying that he would make a full recovery.
“We were always hopeful that my son would speak to us, and see his wife and daughters one day. But that day never came in these eight years. We had never lost a hope that my son would recuperate from the coma and looked after him dedicatedly day and night in past eight years,” said Col Natt, a veteran from the 22 Punjab and a soldier who fought the 1971 War in the Shakargarh ‘Bulge’ sector and also battled the Mizoram insurgency.
He added that his son fought for his life with all the grit and valour in these years as the family and army medics spared no effort to take care of him.
“For eight years, the family was following the same routine of visiting him every day and talking to him for hours despite knowing that he would not listen and speak. We were socially disconnected in these years as the family had not attended a single social gathering in the past years,” he said.
Originally hailing from Dhadiala Natt village, situated near Batala in Gurdaspur district, the family of Lt Col Natt moved to Jalandhar for his treatment. He was commissioned as a Short Service Commission officer in The Brigade of Guards in 1998. He also led a missile platoon during the Kargil War in 1999. After serving in the regiment for 14 years, he was relieved from service in 2012 before he joined as the second-in-command (2IC) of the 160 Territorial Army (JAK Rifles) and formerly of the 19th Battalion of the Brigade of the Guards.
“The love for olive always fascinated my son and he attained martyrdom after eight years. Being a Fauji father, I can only say that it was a great pride to be a father of such a brave decorated army officer,” he said.
His father added that in all these eight years, he found his daughter-in-law Navpreet Kaur, bravest of all, as she remained calm and poised throughout and took great care of her husband besides looking after parenting and education of two young daughters.
