Major Aditya Pratap Singh Awarded Bar to Shaurya Chakra for Gallantry Along Indo-Myanmar Border
Major Aditya Pratap Singh, SC, SM, of the 9th Battalion, The Rajputana Rifles, serving with 44 Assam Rifles, has been awarded a Bar to the Shaurya Chakra for exceptional gallantry in a counter-insurgency operation along the Indo-Myanmar border. The honour, announced on the eve of Independence Day 2026, recognises his actions during a fierce engagement on 5 July 2025.
The latest award places Major Singh among the Indian Army’s most decorated young officers. It is his second Shaurya Chakra, coming after the first was conferred for another operation carried out on 24 October 2024. He also holds the Sena Medal (Gallantry), giving him a rare trio of major gallantry distinctions earned during operational service.
President Droupadi Murmu approved the Bar to the Shaurya Chakra on 14 August 2026 as part of the gallantry awards announced ahead of India’s 80th Independence Day. Earlier, she had presented the Shaurya Chakra to Major Singh at the Defence Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 8 June 2026.
A soldier from Unnao with a family tradition of service
Major Singh hails from Bari Panai village in Beeghapur tehsil of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh. His family background reflects a long association with public service and sacrifice. His great-grandfather, late Bharat Singh, was a freedom fighter, while his maternal grandfather, late Major Durga Singh, served in the armed forces. After his father died in 2010, his mother and elder brother played a major role in raising him.
Commissioned into the Indian Army in 2013, Major Singh joined The Rajputana Rifles, one of the Army’s oldest and most decorated infantry regiments. Over the years, he has served in demanding operational environments and has built a record shaped by frontline service.
In 2019, he led the Rajputana Rifles contingent at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi. Commanding a regimental contingent on India’s national parade is a responsibility usually given to officers in whom the Army places significant trust, and it came relatively early in his career.
His first major gallantry recognition came with the Sena Medal (Gallantry), announced on Republic Day 2021. That award was for courage shown during a counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operation in which he reportedly engaged terrorists at close quarters and sustained injuries in the action.
Major Singh later moved to 44 Assam Rifles for operational duties in the Northeast, where he has been involved in counter-insurgency operations in the sensitive Indo-Myanmar border region.
The October 2024 operation that earned him his first Shaurya Chakra
On 24 October 2024, acting on specific intelligence about the movement of a heavily armed insurgent group, Major Singh took charge of an operation in the border region. He maintained surveillance over the suspected area for nearly 72 hours, despite difficult terrain and adverse weather.
When the insurgents were finally located, the operation turned into a close-range firefight. Major Singh came under heavy automatic fire from about 30 metres away, but continued to fight despite the immediate danger to his life. He eventually eliminated a most-wanted militant.
That action helped neutralise a major threat and, according to the source account, reflected exceptional courage, tactical awareness and leadership under fire. For this operation, he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra, which was later presented by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
5 July 2025: a second act of gallantry under fire
Less than a year later, Major Singh was again involved in a dangerous encounter, this time on 5 July 2025. Around 4:45 am, while leading a patrol through dense and treacherous terrain along the Indo-Myanmar border, his team was hit by intense automatic and grenade fire from insurgents.
Seeing that his scout was exposed to enemy fire, Major Singh immediately pulled the soldier into cover. During the exchange, enemy rounds struck his backpack, narrowly missing him.
Rather than disengaging, he crawled forward under sustained fire in an effort to gain a tactical edge. He suffered splinter injuries in the process but continued to lead the operation despite being wounded.
He then charged towards the insurgent position, used his field craft to close in on the enemy and lobbed a grenade at the hostile location before following it up with accurate close-quarter fire. In the action, he eliminated a most-wanted top operational commander of a high-profile insurgent group. The operation also led to the recovery of a significant quantity of war-like stores.
It was this combination of personal risk, battlefield leadership and decisive action — especially his decision to protect a fellow soldier before advancing despite his injuries — that led to the award of a Bar to the Shaurya Chakra.
A Bar to a gallantry award is given when a person who has already received that decoration performs another act worthy of the same honour. In Major Singh’s case, the latest award means he has now received the Shaurya Chakra twice for separate acts of exceptional courage.
With the Sena Medal (Gallantry), Shaurya Chakra and Bar to the Shaurya Chakra, Major Aditya Pratap Singh has built an unusual record of gallantry in a relatively short military career. His journey from a village in Unnao to leading soldiers in some of the most demanding counter-insurgency operations along the Indo-Myanmar border has drawn attention as an example for young Indians aspiring to join the armed forces.
For defence aspirants preparing for the SSB interview, his story reflects the qualities the services look for: courage under pressure, responsibility for subordinates, quick decision-making, determination and the willingness to lead from the front.
His repeated acts of gallantry also reflect the ethos associated with The Rajputana Rifles and its motto, “Veer Bhogya Vasundhara” — the brave shall inherit the earth.
