Fear memories are highly persistent, and identifying the neural mechanisms that support their formation is essential in understanding trauma-related neuropsychiatric disorders. Although the dorsal hippocampus (DH) plays a crucial role in contextual-fear-conditioned (CxFC) memory formation, repeated exposure can engage hippocampus-independent circuits that support fear memory even after DH damage. Compensatory CxFC memory is formed in the infralimbic cortex (IL) in the absence of the DH; however, the glutamatergic receptor subtypes and state-dependent factors that modulate this process remain unclear. Here, we examined the role of (i) GluN2A and GluN2B subunits of NMDA receptor in the IL, and (ii) sleep-dependent development of compensatory-CxFC memory in the DH-lesioned rats. The DH of Wistar rats was bilaterally damaged with ibotenic acid. Thereafter, the animals were fear-conditioned through two separate contextual fear-conditioning sessions, each separated by a three-day interval. The fear memory was assessed during a subsequent test. Pharmacological inhibition of the IL using 'Ro25-6981', a NMDA-GluN2B blocker, during the first session disrupted compensatory fear memory, whereas PEAQX, a NMDA-GluN2A blocker, had no effect. In another cohort, sleep deprivation between sessions abolished compensatory CxFC memory formation in DH-lesioned rats, while non-sleep-deprived DH-lesioned animals displayed robust compensatory CxFC memory. Together, these findings demonstrate the significance of GluN2B-dependent NMDA receptors in the IL and identify sleep as a crucial modulator of hippocampus-independent compensatory contextual fear memory formation, although the underlying detailed molecular mechanism remains to be studied.