Army officers killed fighting terror in Kashmir's Handwara cremated in hometowns

Family members fought back tears and the Army offered gun salutes as two officers who led from the front in an anti-terror operation in Kashmir were cremated Tuesday in their hometowns.

The body of Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, the commanding officer of 21 Rifles who was killed Saturday night, was consigned to the flames in Jaipur.

Major Anuj Sood was cremated will full military honours in Chandigarh. His family home is in adjacent Panchkula.

The two were among the five security personnel, including a Jammu and Kashmir policeman, killed in a firefight with terrorists in Handwara in north Kashmir on Saturday night. Col Sharma is the second commanding officer of 21 RR to have been killed fighting terrorists.

At the Purani Chungi cremation ground on Jaipur’s Ajmer Road, his wife Pallavi Sharma kept a brave face as his brother Piush Sharma lit the funeral pyre.

She held tightly to the folded tricolour, removed from Col Sharma’s coffin and handed over to her for a while, as the ceremony progressed. As the body was placed on the pyre she fanned it gently with her ‘dupatta”.

The pyre was lit as soldiers fired three volleys in a gun salute.

Earlier, at the 61 Cavalry grounds, where wreaths were laid on Col Sharma’s coffin, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and South Western Army commander Lt Gen Alok Kler paid their respects.

Pallavi Sharma and the couple’s daughter Tamanna also stood in salute.

"The entire nation will remember the sacrifice of Colonel Ashutosh Sharma. The country is proud of him," Gehlot told reporters at the wreath-laying ceremony.

When he met Col Sharma's mother, the chief minister bowed to touch her feet.

Similar scenes were witnessed at the Mani Majra cremation ground in Chandigarh, where Major Anuj Sood’s body was brought from the family home in Panchkula.

His wife Akriti Sood threw her arms around the coffin in farewell as the body was put on a bedecked Army vehicle.

The major’s sister Harshita, who is also an Army officer, consoled her sister-in-law

Slogans like “Vande Mataram”, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Major Anuj Amar Rahe”, were raised as the body, wrapped in the tricolour, was taken to the cremation ground.

Before the cremation, serving and retired Army officers laid wreaths.

As he placed a wreath, Anti Terrorist Front of India president Viresh Shandilya raised “Pakistan Murdabad” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” slogans.

Apart from Army personnel, only the family members were allowed inside the cremation ground to ensure social distancing norms in force because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A guard of honour was given to Major Sood by the Army and soldiers fired three volleys in gun salute.

Major Sood’s father Brigadier Chandrakant Sood (retd) lit the pyre.

He had told the media the day before that he was proud of his son’s sacrifice. “He was a true son of the nation," he said at his Panchkula home.

The 30-year-old officer was from the Brigade of the Guards regiment, currently part of the 21 Rashtriya Rifles.

He joined the National Defence Academy in 2008. He had one dream, which was to join the Army, according to his family.

His family said he was scheduled to return home after a gap of six months. Having finished his two-year stint in Jammu and Kashmir, he was to join the 12 Guards unit in Gurdaspur