Slain soldier’s widow delivers baby shortly before funeral

JAMMU: Lance Naik Ranjeet Singh Bhutyal and his wife, Shimu Devi, had waited for a child for 10 years after their marriage. She finally arrived at around 5am on Tuesday — a few hours before Bhutyal was consigned to flames at his ancestral village in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Soon after the delivery, Devi and her yet-to-be named daughter arrived at the cremation ground in an ambulance to witness the last rites. “I hope she joins the Army just like her father,” Devi told journalists soon after the funeral.

Lance Naik Ranjeet Singh Bhutyal was among three personnel of J&K Light Infantry who fell to the bullets of Pakistani intruders along the LoC Rajouri district on Sunday.

Two Pakistani intruders too were killed. Local reports said Bhutyal was scheduled to arrive home on leave starting October 22, as his wife’s expected date of delivery was at hand but he was killed in battle on October 21.

On Tuesday, the remains of the soldiers were flown to their native places and laid to rest with full military honours. The tricolour-wrapped coffin reached his Suligam village on Monday after a wreath laying ceremony at Akhnoor Garrison. The family performed last rites on Tuesday.

“The entire village is in mourning but the arrival of the child is expected to help the family overcome the grief,” a resident said.