It takes extraordinary valour to win the Ashok Chakra, the country's highest peacetime gallantry award. But that is no guarantee a soldier would get the respect that should accompany that recognition.

On Republic Day, President Pratibha Patil bestowed Shanti Bohra with Havildar Bahadur Singh Bohra's Ashok Chakra (posthumous) in front of the entire nation. But a few hours later, the martyr's 29-year-old wife and her two daughters, aged five and three, were turned away from the gates of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan official, not authorised to speak to the media, said, "At formal functions, children are not allowed. Only those invited by name are allowed for security reasons.

" However, had the matter been brought to the notice of officials, it could have been resolved as it involved a highly decorated soldier's family, he claimed. "Some consideration should have been shown towards the lady.

Where was she supposed to have left her kids?" asked an outraged army officer. Bohra, a squad commander of 10 Para (Special Forces), led an assault team carrying out counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir's Lawanz area.

Last September, he engaged a group of heavily armed terrorists and killed three of them despite several gunshot injuries. His citation reads: "Bohra displayed most conspicuous bravery and made supreme sacrifice for the nation.