E-Paper
Wife of decorated Galwan brave clears key army test, on track to begin career as officer
Rekha Devi, 23, was married to Naik Deepak Singh of the 16th Battalion of Bihar Regiment who was killed in action in the remote Galwan Valley while fighting numerically superior Chinese soldiers on June 15, 2020, and was posthumously awarded the hallowed Vir Chakra for his heroism by President Ram Nath Kovind last November.
The wife of one of the 20 Galwan braves killed in a skirmish with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in June 2020 looks set to pursue an army career after clearing a rigorous personality and intelligence test to join the Chennai-based Officers Training Academy (OTA), officials familiar with the matter said on Friday on the condition of anonymity.
Rekha Devi, 23, was married to Naik Deepak Singh of the 16th Battalion of Bihar Regiment who was killed in action in the remote Galwan Valley while fighting numerically superior Chinese soldiers on June 15, 2020, and was posthumously awarded the hallowed Vir Chakra for his heroism by President Ram Nath Kovind last November.
Vir Chakra (VrC) is India’s third-highest wartime military honour after Param Vir Chakra (PVC) and Maha Vir Chakra (MVC).
Rekha Devi attended the five-day Services Selection Board (SSB) interview at Allahabad and was among the candidates who cleared it on Friday, and has been recommended for pre-commission training at OTA, said one of the officials cited above. She will have to undergo a medical examination before the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) releases the final merit list of selected candidates who are expected to report at OTA in May. Cadets undergo training for nine months at the academy before being commissioned as lieutenants in the army.
Rekha, who hails from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, will join a growing list of military wives who have chosen to pursue a career in the armed forces as officers after their husbands were killed in combat, carrying forward the legacy of the brave men.
The wives of soldiers killed in action are granted exemption from appearing for the Combined Defence Services Examination, conducted by USPC, to qualify for the SSB interview. They are also entitled to age relaxation though Rekha did not need it -- OTA aspirants have to be in the age bracket of 19 to 25 years.
She received her husband’s VrC from President Kovind at an investiture ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 23, 2021.
The other Galwan heroes posthumously honoured at the ceremony were the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, Colonel B Santosh Babu (MVC), Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren (VrC) of 16 Bihar, Havildar K Palani (VrC) of 81 Field Regiment and Sepoy Gurtej Singh (VrC) of 3 Punjab. Havildar Tejinder Singh (VrC) of 3 Medium Regiment was the only living recipient of the wartime honour awarded for uncommon courage during the brutal clash at Galwan Valley.
The skirmish brought the India-China bilateral relationship to a breaking point and the trust deficit it created still casts a shadow on the ongoing negotiations for the disengagement of rival front line soldiers along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh where the Indian Army and PLA have been locked in a standoff for almost 21 months.
Naik Deepak Singh, a medical assistant, saved the lives of more than 30 Indian soldiers by administering timely treatment during the seven-hour deadly conflict near Patrolling Point 14 in Galwan Valley where rival soldiers fought each other with rocks, batons and clubs wrapped in barbed wire. According to Indian estimates, around 40 PLA troops were killed in the skirmish although China officially claims only four of its soldiers lost their lives.
As the skirmish broke out and casualties increased, Naik Deepak Singh rushed to the frontline to render first aid to injured soldiers but he received grave injuries in the heavy stone pelting, says his Vir Chakra citation.
“But undeterred, he continued to provide medical aid. to injured soldiers and saved many lives. He finally succumbed to his injuries,” reads the Naik’s citation.
The first wave of fighting in Galwan Valley erupted around 6 pm on June 15 after Colonel Babu led a squad of 30 soldiers to a location near PP-14 to verify if PLA had removed some structures erected in the area despite an understanding reached on June 6 by top Indian and Chinese military commanders on a disengagement plan to reduce rising border tensions.
The squad, however, found that a few tents and an observation post were still intact and the Chinese soldiers had not retreated from PP-14. The Indian soldiers confronted the Chinese troops, who refused to remove the installations and vacate the area, triggering a violent clash that involved more than 600 soldiers at its peak.
