Bhawani Datt Joshi

Naik Bhawani Datt Joshi was born on 15 July 1952 at Cheprun village of Chamoli, Garhwal District of Uttarakhand. His father's name was Shri Khyali Datt Joshi who was a small farmer in the village. Naik Bhawani Datt Joshi had his primary education in the village's primary school.

He was joined in the Garhwal Rifles on 14 July 1970. After completion of training on 27 June 1971 at the Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre, Lansdowne, he was posted to 5 Garhwal Rifles .

Naik Bhawani Datt Joshi's first combat was when his battalion was deployed to the Eastern Sector during Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He got posted to 9 th Garhwal Rifles. On the night of the 5/6 June 1984, during Operation ‘Blue Star’, Naik Joshi's company had been given the task of gaining a foothold in an important complex of a building. The building complex had been heavily fortified by Khalistani militants and its gate was barricaded by them. Joshi's platoon was bogged down by heavy volume of fire as soon as the gate was breached. Joshi volunteered along with several other members of his platoon at the Commanding Officer to storm positions held by the militants. Joshi led his section in this operation, killing one militant with his carbine and bayoneting another to death and clearing the way for his platoon to capture its objective despite being wounded in the attack. He attacked a third militant who was firing from behind a cover. In the process, he was mortally wounded. For his actions his company successfully captured its objective. Bhawani Datt Joshi was awarded highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, posthumously for his actions.