J&K Special Police Officer Bilal Ahmad Magray was awarded Shaurya Chakra posthumously
With sighs and sobs, a broken mother from Kashmir today received a Shaurya Chakra, the country's third highest gallantry award for peacetime, on behalf of her son, who died in the line of duty in an anti-terror operation in 2019.
A video shared by news agency ANI shows Sara Begum, the mother of Jammu and Kashmir Special Police Officer Bilal Ahmad Magray, struggling to hold back her tears as the voiceover narrated how her son evacuated civilians and engaged terrorists despite being seriously injured in the security operation.
The moving clip also shows the security personnel escorting the elderly woman gently pat her on the back to comfort her in a moment when grief contests with pride.
After receiving the award from President Ram Nath Kovind, Sara Begum turned to greet senior ministers seated behind her. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, apparently moved by the emotionally charged moment, is seen consoling the elderly woman before she walks away with her son's glory in her hand.
The citation for the award says following an input about the presence of terrorists at a home in Baramulla, security forces had launched an operation.
"Shri Bilal Ahmad Magray volunteered himself to the room intervention operational party and thereby to evacuate the entrapped civilians from the target house and to neutralize the terrorist. When SPO Bilal Ahamd was evacuating the civilians, the hiding terrorist lobbed a number of hand grenades and fired indiscriminately upon him and his operational colleagues, resulting serious injuries to him and party commander SI Shri Amar Deep and also one civilian namely Sonu Lal," the citation added.
Despite being seriously injured, Mr Magray showed "indomitable courage and evacuated the injured civilian and other civilians outside", it added.
The police officer kept firing till he lost consciousness due to excessive bleeding, the citation said.