Jaswant’s family seeks Param Vir Chakra

DEHRADUN: The family members of Rifleman Jaswant Singh who won a Mahabir Chakra MVC for his extreme bravery during the war with China in 1962 have demanded that he be given a Param Vir Chakra PVC as his act of courage could not be fully acknowledged

Updated At : 06:50 AM Aug 17, 2015 IST

Leela Devi, mother of Rifleman Jaswant Singh.

Tribune News service

Dehradun, August 16

The family members of Rifleman Jaswant Singh, who won a Mahabir Chakra (MVC) for his extreme bravery during the war with China in 1962, have demanded that he be given a Param Vir Chakra (PVC) as his act of courage could not be fully acknowledged. The family has written a letter in this regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While his 90-year-old mother Leela Devi, living at Dobhalwala in Dehradun is not in a position to recall her son Jaswant’s details, her other son Vijay Singh Rawat said the family would also meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during his proposed visit to Dehradun on August 22. The Defence Minister is proposed to visit Dehradun to lay the foundation stone of a war memorial to the martyrs of the armed forces hailing from the state.

Vijay Rawat, who was mere seven-year-old when his elder brother Jaswant attained martyrdom during the war, said their family belonged to Bario village in Pauri Garhwal district. Jaswant, who was born as a twin with his sister, was an active child who participated in every sports activity.

Since his twin sister died in childhood, he was taken away by his maternal grandmother to Lingal village in Pauri Garhwal. Jaswant did his primary schooling from the village school and then joined his parents at Dobhawala in Dehradun and took admission in Gorkha Military College. Though he was keen to join the Navy, he was able to get into the Army as an infantryman.

His family members are hopeful that the Union government would sympathetically look into their demand.