Lieutenant Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai holds a significant place in the military history of Jammu and Kashmir. On 27 October 1947, as tribal raiders advanced into the Kashmir Valley, he commanded 1 Sikh, among the first Indian Army battalions airlifted to Srinagar following the state's accession to India. His leadership came at a critical moment, when the defence of the airfield and the approaches to Srinagar was central to preventing the capital from falling.
Born on 6 February 1913 in Gujranwala, now in Pakistan, Rai was educated at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla before attending the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. He was commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1935 and served with Sikh infantry units before taking command of 1 Sikh.
When his battalion arrived in Srinagar on the morning of 27 October 1947, Rai quickly assessed the threat. Rather than wait for the raiders to approach the capital, he moved to establish a forward defence. A company was sent towards Baramulla to check the advance along the Srinagar-Baramulla road, while another carried out a flag march in Srinagar.
Rai subsequently led troops towards the forward position to confront the advancing raiders. His force came under heavy fire. During the ensuing engagement and withdrawal, he was fatally wounded and made the supreme sacrifice.
His actions helped establish the Indian Army's presence in the Valley during the opening hours of the 1947 conflict. Lieutenant Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra in recognition of his leadership and gallantry.
His name remains inseparable from the first critical hours of the Indian Army's defence of Srinagar.
