Saurabh Kalia

Saurabh Kalia was an Indian soldier who was captured and brutally tortured to death by the Pakistani Army during the Kargil War.

Personal Life and education

Saurabh Kalia was born on June 29, 1976, in Amritsar, Punjab to Dr. N.K Kalia and Vijaya Kalia. He completed his primary schooling at DAV Public School in Palampur and went on to graduate in B.Sc from HP Agricultural University, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in 1997. He was a very high performing student throughout his academic career as he consistently secured first divisions in exams and won numerous scholarships.

Career in the Indian Army

After he completed his graduation in 1997, Saurabh Kalia was selected for the Indian Military Academy through Combined Defense Services exam conducted by the UPSC and was commissioned in 1998. He saw his first posting in the 4th battalion Jat Regiment in the Kargil Sector in January 1999 which had come by only a couple months since his reporting at the Jat Regimental Centre in Bareilly.

Kargil War

After local shepherds had reported unusual activity near the mountains in Kargil, a team of Indian soldiers was sent to patrol the area. Saurabh Kalia, who was part of the patrolling team, discovered a large scale intrusion into Indian territory by the Pakistani Army and foreign mercenaries. He was then sent to Bajrang Post to check the infiltration in the Kaksar area, along with 5 other soldiers, Sepoys Ram Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram, and Naresh Singh.

On May 15, 1999, Kalia and 5 other soldiers went to patrol the Bajrang Post area. During the patrol, an encounter broke out between the Pakistani Army and the 6 soldiers. After continuous cross fire, the Indian soldiers ran out of ammunition and were captured by Pakistani troops.

Radio Skardu in Pakistan later announced the capture of Saurabh Kalia and other Indian soldiers. It was only after this that India discovered how the Pakistani troops occupied several strategic mountain peaks located in Indian territory.

Torture and Murder

Captain Kalia and the other 5 soldiers were kept in captivity for 20 days between May 15, 1999 and June 7, 1999 and were subjected to extreme torture. When their bodies were handed over to India by the Pakistani Army on June 9, 1999, a post mortem was conducted on them. After examination, it was found that the Pakistanis tortured the soldiers by, burning their bodies with cigarettes, piercing their ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing their eyes before removing them, breaking their teeth and bones, fracturing their skulls, cutting the lips, chipping the nose, chopping of limbs, castrating the private organs, pulling out their nails, and finally shooting them dead.