Naib Subedar Chhering Mutup, AC is a retired Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) with the Ladakh Scouts who was awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military decoration.[1]


Chhering Mutup

Portrait of Naib Subedar Chhering Mutup
BornLikar Village, Leh, Ladakh, India
Allegiance India
Service / branch Indian Army
Years of service23 June 1965 – 1 July 1989
Rank Naib Subedar
Service number9920311
UnitLadakh Scouts
Awards Ashoka Chakra
ChildrenSubedar Major Sewang Mutup, VrC

On 21 February 1985, Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup headed a team of soldiers that attacked and captured a crest in the Siachen glacier. In spite of bad weather and poor visibility, Chhering and his team accomplished the difficult task.[2]

Early life

edit

Chhering Mutup was born in Likir, Leh, Ladakh and joined the Ladakh Scouts in 1965.[3]

Military career

edit

Chhering volunteered to lead a patrol to capture the crest line overlooking an Indian post on the Saltoro ridge. He accomplished the task in extremely hostile weather in high altitude. For the gallantry he displayed, he was awarded the Ashok Chakra in 1985.[4] He retired as an Honorary Naib Subedar on 1 July 1989.[5]

Ashoka Chakra Citation

edit

The Ashoka Chakra citation on the Official Indian Army Website reads as follows:

CITATION

L/HAV CHHERING MUTUP
LADAKH SCOUTS (9920311)
(Effective date of the award: 21st February, 1985)

Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup was required to accomplish an extremely difficult assignment in one of the forward locations of Jammu and Kashmir. Undeterred by extremely hostile conditions of altitude, high velocity winds, heavy snow and blizzards, Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup led his patrol gallantly from fold to fold and accomplish the assignment. In the process, he exhibited the most conspicuous courage, bold initiative and presence of mind.

Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup thus displayed the most conspicuous gallantry , cool courage and devotion to duty of an exceptionally high order.[6]

Family

edit

Mutup's son Tsewang Morup also joined the Indian Army, serving with 2 Ladakh Scouts, and was awarded the Vir Chakra for outstanding gallantry in the 1999 Kargil War. He achieved the rank of subedar-major in 2023, and was killed in an accident on 1 April 2023, when his car skidded off a road near Leh.[7]

References

edit
  1. ^ "List of Ashok Chakra Award winners". 25 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup - Ashoka Chakra Awardee". Aancomics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019.
  3. ^ Bravest of the Brave (Heroes of the Indian Army): Heroes of the Indian Army. Ocean Books. January 2007. p. 96. ISBN 9788187100003.
  4. ^ "Chhering Mutup". 21 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Part I-Section 4: The Gazette of India - Extraordinary". The Gazette of India. 15 August 1989. p. 281.
  6. ^ Gallantry Awards, Gallantry Awards Website of the Indian Ministry of Defence, retrieved 28 August 2014
  7. ^ Dutta, Amrita Nayak (3 April 2023). "Kargil hero and Vir Chakra awardee dies in road accident". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
edit