Bishnu Shrestha
Encyclopedia
Bishnu Shrestha is a Gurkha
soldier in the India
n army s recipient of the Sourya Chakra, Bravery Award, and Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha medals. He earned these medals on September 2, 2010, when 40 armed robbers attacked the train he was in, robbed the passengers of their easily portable valuables (like money, jewellery, cellular phones and laptops), and proceeded to attempt to rape an 18 year-old girl in front of her parents.
While the robbers stuck to robbing valuables, Bishnu complied with their demands, but when the girl cried for help, saying "You are a soldier, please save a sister", Bishnu felt obligated to take out his Kukri
knife and intervene. His intervention involved killing three of the robbers, wounding eight and forcing the rest to flight. When the intended rape victim's family offered him a large cash reward, he refused it with the following comment: "Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier. Taking on the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being."
The soldier was happy about all the appreciation he has received from different quarters and thanked the media for covering the news. “The Indian media brought the incident to light and the Nepali media too gave it due importance. I may have even been sent to jail on the charge of robbery had the girl and the Indian media not come forward to my support," Shrestha said. "I was hardly recognized even in Baidam. Now the whole country knows me." The awards were officially conferred on August 15, 2011.
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
soldier in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n army s recipient of the Sourya Chakra, Bravery Award, and Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha medals. He earned these medals on September 2, 2010, when 40 armed robbers attacked the train he was in, robbed the passengers of their easily portable valuables (like money, jewellery, cellular phones and laptops), and proceeded to attempt to rape an 18 year-old girl in front of her parents.
While the robbers stuck to robbing valuables, Bishnu complied with their demands, but when the girl cried for help, saying "You are a soldier, please save a sister", Bishnu felt obligated to take out his Kukri
Kukri
The kukri is a curved Nepalese Knife, similar to the machete, used as both a tool and as a weapon...
knife and intervene. His intervention involved killing three of the robbers, wounding eight and forcing the rest to flight. When the intended rape victim's family offered him a large cash reward, he refused it with the following comment: "Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier. Taking on the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being."
The soldier was happy about all the appreciation he has received from different quarters and thanked the media for covering the news. “The Indian media brought the incident to light and the Nepali media too gave it due importance. I may have even been sent to jail on the charge of robbery had the girl and the Indian media not come forward to my support," Shrestha said. "I was hardly recognized even in Baidam. Now the whole country knows me." The awards were officially conferred on August 15, 2011.