34-year-old Deputy Superintendent of Police Humayun Bhat was the youngest among the three police and army officials who lost their lives in an encounter with terrorists at Kashmir's Anantnag on Wednesday, September 13.
The other two officials who laid down their lives for the country were Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles and Major Ashish Dhonack.
DSP Bhat, after being shot by terrorists, had made a video call to this wife, Fatima, where he told her to take care of their two-month-old infant since he believed he would not make it out of the action alive, as per a report by India Today.
The publication has also reported that before the call to his wife, Bhat had dialled his father, retired Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Ghulam Hassan Bhat, to whom he said he was injured, but "okay".
Bhat died due to heavy blood loss, officials later said.
Senior SP Imtiyaz Hussain, according to Hindustan Times, said, “Until recently, we were bearing the weight of our colleagues’ coffins. Tragically, we find ourselves carrying the coffins of our own sons today, who are dying in this Pakistan sponsored terrorism” after visuals of the senior Bhat laying a wreath on his deceased son's body grieved hearts across the nation.
The banned Resistance Front, believed to be a shadow group of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Officials believe that it is the same set of terrorists who had carried out the attack on army personnel on August 4, killing three jawans in the higher reaches of the Halan forest area of Kulgam district.
The attack comes a day after an Army personnel and Kent, a six-year-old female Labrador of the Army's dog unit, were killed and three security personnel injured in the gunfight in South of Pir Panjal at Rajouri in Jammu region. Two terrorists were killed in an encounter in the remote Narla village.
(With PTI inputs)
Published 17 September 2023, 09:12 IST