The Wing Commander, Abhinandan, who was captured on February 27, 2019, after his MIG-21 was shot down by the PAF has been awarded India’s third highest award—Vir Chakra—which is awarded for acts of gallantry in the presence of the enemy. Abhinandan was also promoted to the rank of group captain before being conferred with the medal and his squadron was also awarded a citation.
The Foreign Policy magazine published an exclusive story according to which, “India’s claim that one of its fighter pilots shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in an aerial battle between the two nuclear powers in February appears to be wrong. Two senior US defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that US personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16 and found none missing”.
TRT World carried a detailed story on the award, titled “Indian Pilot Awarded for a Feat Against Pakistan that Never Happened”. According to the story, India displayed the General Electronics made engine of the so called downed F-16 whereas Pakistan used only Pratt and Whitney engines on its F-16s. All these efforts by the Indian government were to cover up national humiliation through an imaginary account of air battle which has failed miserably.
It is rightly said that Indian political and military leadership would have to live with this lie for rest of their lives. They are now misleading the Indian nation and armed-forces to raise their low morale. However, the intellectual and defense analysts within India are convinced that it is a concocted story by the Indian military which has a long history of awarding fake honours. According to an article by Lt Gen Panag—the former GOC of Northern Command—during the 1962 war, two of three Param Vir Chakra awardees were prisoners of war which raised serious questions.
Many raised questions on the award given to the Joint Commissioner of Police Hemant Karke with the reason that he was killed without firing a shot and actually did not deserve the Ashok Chakra. In 2012, Indian human right activists protested against the government for awarding a gallantry award to Chhattisgarh police officer Ankit Garg who was involved in the torturing of a lady and physical abuse through his staff. During Kargil war too, some fake heroes claimed medals thus making a mockery of the award system in India.
During the Kargil war, another story came to lime light according to which rifleman Sanjay Kumar was awarded the Pram Vir Chakra for an operation to capture the Flat Top. In 2010, he was seen wearing demoted ranks of Lance Naik during republic day parade. The Indian army concealed the facts to avoid embarrassment to the hierarchy involved in recommending the award.
Another mockery of medal distribution was seen in the case of Major Leetul Gogoi of the 53 Rashtriya Rifles who tied a Kashmiri to the bonnet of his jeep as human shield. He was awarded with the army chief’s Commendation Card for his inhuman act. The citation was given to him while a court of Inquiry against the conduct of officer was in progress.
There is also tendency in India to return medals on account of human rights violations. Sikhs returned their awards when the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar. According to a Telangana Daily Projasakti, 25000 soldiers returned their awards in solidarity with the farmers’ protest across India. A Dalit women announced the return of four gallantry awards that her son had received. She said better he be an unsung hero than an insulted one. The award to Abhinandan has certainly devalued the worth of gallantry awards in India. Despite humiliation, the Indian government continues to celebrate a victory which was not there. One can pity Indian government for awarding failure.