SNIPPETS OF THE PAST

Col SN Malhotra joined BHU Engineering College followed by M.Sc. in Defence Studies from Madras University. He achieved ‘psc’ from Staff College Wellington ‘sc’ from the College of Combat MHOW and an MBA from EME College Secunderabad. Commissioned into the Indian Army in 1962 he joined the 6th Rajput Regiment fighting in all three major wars. From 1978 to 1980 he commanded the 9th Rajput Infantry Battalion at Kota Rajasthan. During the 1962 war he led a Long-Range Patrol in Ladakh blocking key ingress routes used by Chinese forces enabling the Ladakh Division to occupy the Kilderma La Pass in 1964. In the 1971 Indo-Pak War he served on both Eastern and Western Fronts training Mukti Bahini forces in the East and leading a company in the West capturing a Chinese Heavy Machine Gun and a Pakistani POW in a surgical strike. As CO he participated in major military exercises and served as Col GS (Intelligence) with the 33 Corps overseeing intelligence operations in the Chumbi Valley and neighbouring regions. At HQ Western Command he supported Operation Blue Star and personnel rehabilitation efforts. A skilled dramatist Col Malhotra earned multiple awards for theatre at IMA Dehradun DSSC Wellington and the Gaiety Theatre Shimla. An artist as well he received national recognition including a Special Prize for Art from the Lalit Kala Academy in 1959. In 2013 a postage stamp was issued in his honour during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the 6th Battalion Rajput