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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
When President K R Narayanan conferred the Ashok Chakra, India's highest peacetime award, on the late Constable Kamlesh Kumari of the Central Reserve Police Force on January 26, she became the first woman to receive this rare honour.
The Ashok Chakra, instituted in 1950, is normally awarded to military and paramilitary force personnel for gallantry away from the battlefield.
Kamlesh Kumari was on duty at Parliament House on December 13 when five terrorists in a white Ambassador car tried to storm the building.
As the car sped into the compound, Kamlesh Kumari tried to force it to stop. The terrorists shot her dead, but the gunfire alerted other guards in the complex who moved to secure the building first and then shot the terrorists dead.
Kamlesh Kumari's husband, B P Yadav, received the medal and a scroll of honour from the President at the saluting base on Rajpath before the Republic Day parade began.
The President also conferred posthumous Ashok Chakras on Matabar Singh Negi and Jagdish Prasad Yadav of the watch and ward staff of Parliament and Naik Rambeer Singh Tomar of the 26 Rashtriya Rifles.
The Attack on Parliament: The complete coverage
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