Jagjit Singh Aurora was born to an Arora Sikh family in Kala Gujran, Jhelum District, Punjab, British India.

[6] After Independence and the ensuing Partition of India, he opted to join the Indian Army and was a commissioned officer in the Punjab Regiment during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

[8] In May 1961, as BGS XXXIII Corps, Brigadier Aurora led a team of military officers and men sent by the Government of India on a reconnaissance mission to Bhutan.

[citation needed] Under the command of General M. A. G. Osmani a Bangladeshi military force, the Mukti Bahini, was formed.

At the outbreak of the war on 3 December 1971, the Eastern Army Commander, Gen. Aurora oversaw the Indian ground forces into battle in East Pakistan.

The photograph of Niazi and Aurora at the signing of the Instruments of Surrender became an iconic image of the war,[18] with The Guardian describing the scene as "the glum Pakistani officer bowed over his signature.

Aurora was honoured with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, the Padma Bhushan and the Bir Protik[20] for his role in the war.

Lt Gen JFR Jacob has written in his book An Odyssey in War And Peace that Gen. Aurora approached then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for governorship of a state but she declined.

Aurora was also an active member of the Citizen's Justice Committee which provided pro bono assistance to Sikh victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.