Vigilantism rewarded (Gurkha vs robbers)

[Coalition]

Specifically, 40 train robbers

Lone Nepali Gorkha who subdued 40 train robbers

POKHARA, Jan 13: Gorkha soldiers have long been known the world over for their valor and these khukuri-wielding warriors winning the British many a battle have become folklore.

A retired Indian Gorkha soldier recently revisited those glory days when he thwarted 40 robbers, killing three of them and injuring eight others, with his khukuri during a train journey. He is in line to receive three gallantry awards from the Indian government.

Slave girl Morgiana in the Arabian Nights used her cunning to finish off Ali Baba´s 40 thieves, but Bishnu Shrestha of Baidam, Pokhara-6 did not have time to plot against the 40 train robbers. He, however, made good use of his khukuri to save the chastity of a girl and hundreds of thousands in loot.

Shrestha, who was in the Maurya Express to Gorakhpur from Ranchi on September 2 while returning home following voluntary retirement from the Indian army--saved the girl who was going to be raped by the robbers in front of her helpless parents, and in doing so won plaudits from everybody.

The government of Nepal decided to provide special honor to the Indian Gorkha soldier who fought as many as 40 bandits in a train with nothing but a khukuri, and thwarted them from robbing passengers and raping a minor.

“He will be provided a special honor for doing Nepal proud at international stage,” Finance Minister Surendra Raj Pandey said after the cabinet meeting on Thursday. The government, however, has yet to declare what the honor would comprise of and when will it be given.

The Indian government is to decorate Shrestha with its Sourya Chakra, Bravery Award and Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Medal and the 35-year-old is leaving for India Saturday to receive the first of the awards on the occasion of India´s Republic Day on January 26.

“The formal announcement of the awards will be made on Republic Day and on Independence Day on August 15,” said Shrestha, whose father Gopal Babu also retired from the same 7/8 Platoon of the Gorkha Regiment around 29 years ago.

His regiment has already given him a cash award of Indian rupees 50,000, and decided to terminate his voluntary retirement. He will get the customary promotion after receiving the medals. The Indian government will also announce a cash bounty for him and special discounts on international air tickets and domestic train tickets.

The band of about 40 robbers, some of whom were travelling as passengers, stopped the train in the Chittaranjan jungles in West Bengal around midnight. Shrestha-- who had boarded the train at Ranchi in Jharkhand, the place of his posting--was in seat no. 47 in coach AC3.

“They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers,” Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in front of her parents. He then took out his khukuri and took on the robbers.

“The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´,” Shrestha recalled. “I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister,” he added. He took one of the robbers under control and then started to attack the others. He said the rest of the robbers fled after he killed three of them with his khukuri and injured eight others.

During the scuffle he received serious blade injury to his left hand while the girl also had a minor cut on her neck. “They had carried out their robbery with swords, blades and pistols. The pistols may have been fake as they didn´t open fire,” he surmised.

The train resumed its journey after some 20 minutes and a horde of media persons and police were present when it reached Chittaranja station. Police arrested the eight injured dacoits and recovered around 400,000 Indian rupees in cash, 40 gold necklaces, 200 cell phones, 40 laptops and other items that the fleeing robbers dropped in the train.

Police escorted Shrestha to the Railways Hospital after the rescued girl told them about his heroic deed. Mainstream Indian media carried the story. The parents of the girl, who was going for her MBBS studies, also announced a cash award of Indian rupees 300,000 for him but he has not met them since.

“Even the veins and arteries in my left hand were slit but the injury has now healed after two months of neurological treatment at the Command Hospital in Kolkata,” he said showing the scar. “Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier; taking on the dacoits in the train was my duty as a human being,” said the Indian army nayak, who has been given two guards during his month-long holidays in Nepal.

“I am proud to be able to prove that a Gorkha soldier with a khukuri is really a handful. I would have been a meek spectator had I not carried that khukuri,” he said.

He still finds it hard to believe that he took on 40 armed robbers alone. “They may have feared that more of my army friends were traveling with me and fled after fighting me for around 20 minutes,” he explained.

Meanwhile Shrestha is finding it difficult to reach out to all those who intend to honor him for his courageous act. He has already been honored by around a dozen private firms, mothers´ groups, local political leaders and schools, while many are preparing to honor him. Some firms from Kathmandu have also invited him for felicitation.

“My son is finding it difficult to manage time to accept all the honors,” said Shrestha´s elated father Gopal Babu who had also retired around 29 years ago from the same 7/8 Platoon of the Gorkha Regiment, that his son served. “We had never thought that he would be honored at this scale,” Gopal Babu expressed his happiness.

Agni Air, Rastriya Paropakar Mahasangh, Shantipatan Tole Sudhar Samiti, Miteri Mothers´ Group, ward committees of the Nepali Congress and Communist Part of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, Tal Barahi Higher Secondary School and others have already honored him. “He could not travel to Kathmandu due to lack of time,” his father said.

On most occasions he was felicitated with shawl (khada), vermillion, dhaka topi and given certificates. Agni Air has given him an honorary life membership and announced a limetime free air travel. “Some of my friends from India even called me to congratulate for his bravery. Everybody should honor such brave persons,” said Sushil Basnet of Agni Air.

The soldier was happy about all the appreciation he has received from different quarters and thanked the media for covering the news. “The Indian media brought the incident to light and the Nepali media too gave it due importance. I may have even been sent to jail on the charge of robbery had the girl and the Indian media not come forward to my support,” Shrestha said. “I was hardly recognized even in Baidam. Now the whole country knows me.”

Posted in Testing in case it was already posted in N&P.

[Raj Ahten]

That dude is hardcore.

Also, life imatates an action movie.

[TOSDOC]

I wonder if we might move this to N&P to follow this story. This soldier is certainly a hero, and deserves to be honored.

I have a Nepali khukuri and use it as an all-purpose camping tool. It's still one of my favorite pieces of equipment, and still looks like new after ten years of heavy use (well, Very Good in ebay terms). I would not want to be on the wrong end of it, and I think it says something that over 30 armed men fled after he took a few out with it. Wounds from that knife would not be a pretty sight.

[General Zod]

I wonder if we might move this to N&P to follow this story. This soldier is certainly a hero, and deserves to be honored.

I have a Nepali khukuri and use it as an all-purpose camping tool. It's still one of my favorite pieces of equipment, and still looks like new after ten years of heavy use (well, Very Good in ebay terms). I would not want to be on the wrong end of it, and I think it says something that over 30 armed men fled after he took a few out with it. Wounds from that knife would not be a pretty sight.

It also helped that he was on a train, so there was a bottleneck involved. The fact that only a few of them could probably come at him at a time really evened the odds out in his favor. Otherwise they probably would have bum-rushed him.

[Rogue 9]

I don't believe anyone will dispute it, so...

[aerius]

And don't rob the IKEA store in Nottingham, it's got a Ghurka security force keeping it safe.

[TOSDOC]

It also helped that he was on a train, so there was a bottleneck involved. The fact that only a few of them could probably come at him at a time really evened the odds out in his favor. Otherwise they probably would have bum-rushed him.

Undoubtedly. It doesn't sound like they were all in the same car with him. In those kind of odds, the level of ferocity one shows could make all the difference. I wonder if one of them yelled "Ghurka!" and the rest thought there was more than one attacking them and fled.

[Niz1]

The Badassness of Gurkha's is once again proven.

It says that he "took one of the robbers under control and then started to attack the others."! Does that mean that he used one as a human sheild?

Plus killed 3 and wounded several, I want to see a movie about this in the next 4 years

[Rogue 9]

Incidentally, your link is dead and the top results for this on Google are conservative blogs, Free Republic, and military discussion boards.

[Duckie]

So, are knives now officially deadlier than guns?

[Hamstray]

Incidentally, your link is dead and the top results for this on Google are conservative blogs, Free Republic, and military discussion boards.

Conservative propaganda it is then, and you people should be ashamed for falling for it. Just because in this single incident vigilantism did not seem to escalate the situation (from an objective point of view it did: people got killed, wouldn't have happened otherwise) does not mean that in most cases it doesn't change things for worse.

[Shroom Man 777]

So, are knives now officially deadlier than guns?

You don't want Gurkhas coming in at night, kicking down your doors and stabbing your dogs to death, mang.

[Duckie]

The actual story, by the way.

Asansol, Sept. 3: Six youths were arrested in Asansol for robbing the Hatia-Gorakhpur Mourya Express in the early hours today and injuring 20 passengers, including a Gorkha Regiment jawan who was attacked with a dagger for trying to stop the gang from snatching the earrings of a woman.

Around 15 robbers, armed with revolvers and daggers, broke the windowpanes of two AC three-tier compartments and three sleeper coaches and entered the train after some of their accomplices who had boarded earlier, pretending to be passengers, pulled the chain. The train was stopped at 12.30am in a jungle between Kulti and Chittaranjan, near the Jharkhand border.

The robbers snatched cash, ornaments and cellphones in a heist that lasted 45 minutes. The passengers claimed no security guard came to their rescue although five Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel were on the train.

A few hours after the robbery, a police team from Asansol’s Salanpur patrolling the area saw two youths waiting at Dendua level crossing near the Bengal-Jharkhand border with two large bags. The policemen searched their bags and found several cellphones, wallets and wristwatches. One of them was arrested while the other escaped.

Based on information provided by the arrested youth, a joint team comprising Railway Protection Force and GRP personnel raided some hideouts in Sitarampur and Chittaranjan and picked up five other gang members.

“Six robbers have been arrested and Rs 10,470 in cash, 33 mobile phones, 14 wrist watches and an ATM card were seized from them. We have also seized two pistols, live cartridges and daggers from the robbers, who are residents of Shimultala in Jharkhand,” said R.S.P. Singh, senior security commandant of Asansol RPF.

Bishnu Shrestha, the injured Gorkha Regiment jawan, said he was travelling in one of the AC coaches when some of the robbers barged into the compartment.

“I attacked the robbers with my khukhuri. As I tried to stop one of them from snatching the earrings of a woman, he hit me on my left arm with his dagger,” said Shrestha, who was going to Gorakhpur.

Shrestha, who is posted in Ranchi, said he had injured three robbers with his weapon.

The train started moving after the robbers escaped. Passengers demonstrated on the platform after the train reached Chittaranjan, accusing the GRP and the RPF of negligence. They also blocked the tracks for about an hour. The train left Chittaranjan at 3am.

[Shroom Man 777]

doesn't sound as awesome

they should make a movie out of the OP's news article though (not Duckie's lame one)

the Gurkha should be played by Liam Neeson

or maybe Mickey Rourke

If you make god bleed with your kukri there will be blood in the water and then the gurkhas will come

kukhri knife in the chest, painful way to die

[Phantasee]

I was wondering about the OP article, it was too long and the details weren't in the right order, almost like it was added to after it was written. Most news articles would have outlined a few of the rewards and decorations closer to the beginning.

[Rogue 9]

Incidentally, your link is dead and the top results for this on Google are conservative blogs, Free Republic, and military discussion boards.

Conservative propaganda it is then, and you people should be ashamed for falling for it. Just because in this single incident vigilantism did not seem to escalate the situation (from an objective point of view it did: people got killed, wouldn't have happened otherwise) does not mean that in most cases it doesn't change things for worse.

I would argue against what's described in the OP being what most people would think of as vigilantism, actually. He didn't go looking for train robbers to stop; the train he was on was getting robbed, making it self-defense. Further, he sat quietly and let them do their thing right up until they started in on a public rape, so he wasn't just jumping up to knife them over a property crime.

Of course, evidently the OP is fictional, so take from it what you will, but were it true I wouldn't blame him in the slightest. Foolhardy? Yes, but I'm hardly going to shed tears over a rapist.

[Serafina]

Self-defense or immediate defense of others is not vigilantism (unless i have a serious misunderstanding of the term).
It would have been vigilantism if he was tracking them down after the robbery and attacked them instead of alerting the proper authorities, especially if he had killed them in such an action.
However, he just defended himself/a woman in his compartment, so i don't see why you would even call him a vigilante.

Frankly, i see the person from the actual story as just as brave (and certainly smarter) than the fictional super-uber-soldier from the OP. If i had been in that train, i would probably have preferred the former, because the actions of our fictional action-hero could have easily endangered other passengers.