Dharma Production’s ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’ has been in the eye of a storm since its day of release with the film and its subject – Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena – battling one controversy after another.
Now, several news websites and social media users are claiming that Flight Lieutenant Saxena is a Shaurya Chakra awardee which is not true. Gunjan Saxena never won the Shaurya Chakra but after the Kargil war, she received the "Shaurya Veer" award from a civilian organisation in Uttar Pradesh.
THE CLAIM
Several news websites including India Today and The Indian Express reported that Gunjan Saxena received a Shaurya Chakra award for displaying courage and grit during the Kargil War. ScoopWhoop also mentioned that Saxena is the first woman Shaurya Chakra awardee.
English news daily The Hindu also reported that Saxena won the award but later removed the reference and issued an apology.
Several people on social media also shared similar information with many of them attributing it to the film.
WHAT WE FOUND
We searched on the Gallantry Awards Website by the Ministry of Defence and found no record of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena having won the award.
Further, in a blog on NDTV, Gunjan Saxena herself mentioned that she never claimed that she was a Shaurya Chakra Awardee.
“After Kargil, I received the ‘Shaurya Veer’ award from a civilian organisation in Uttar Pradesh. A certain section of the internet news possibly turned Veer into Chakra.”Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena
We also found that nowhere in the film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, which is now streaming on Netflix, has any reference been made to her winning the Shaurya Chakra.
Further, Wing Commander Namrita Chandi (Retd) who trained along with Gunjan Saxena also stated in a piece for Outlook that there is no truth to the claim that Gunjan Saxena won a Shaurya Chakra award
WHO IS AWARDED A SHAURYA CHAKRA?
The Shaurya Chakra is an Indian Military Gallantry Award, third in order of precedence after the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel.
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