Vir Chakra (VrC)

On the night of 17 May 1948,319 Gorkha Rifles was ordered to capture a hill feature in the vicinity of Poonch. But before this could be done, it was necessary to occupy the pimple situated half way up the hill. The platoon commanded by Naik Bal Bahadur Mall led the attack. The enemy opened up with automatics, small arms and grenades. He rushed ahead of his section and charged an enemy machine gun post and killed one of the gunners with his khukri. When trying to wrest the gun from the enemy, he received a burst of automatic fire from another position and was killed instantaneously.

Due to his courage and gallantry he was not only responsible for the capture of the feature, but also paved the way for greater victories.