A child feels most secure in her father’s lap and the irony wasn’t lost on anyone present when in the village of Army paratrooper Mukut Bihari Meena, who died fighting terrorists in Kashmir, his five-month-old daughter was seen sitting on his coffin and later lying on it after his body arrived on Monday. The child couldn’t have climbed atop the coffin on her own but perhaps her family wanted to be near her father one last time. Infant Aaru also held the burning stick for a bit before her grandfather Jagannath lit the funeral pyre.
“You sat on the coffin and lied (sic) on that without crying. Moments before, you had seen the face of your father. It was very emotional. I and all the Army officers were watching you doing this and I know everyone of us were thinking in our own respective ways but your innocence and your father were at the centre of our thoughts,” Jhalawar district collector Jitendra Soni said an emotional letter addressed to the infant shared on Facebook.
“Not only this area, but the blessings of every responsible and sensible citizen of the entire country with you. Grow well and make your father’s glorious martyrdom your pride,” Soni said. The collector also mentioned how watching Aaru caught the attention of people and made them emotional.
Twenty-five-year-old Meena, who laid down his life in Kupwara on July 11, belonged to village Ladania with has a 100-odd houses, and his cremation was performed with full military honours. Public representatives, Army officials, those from the administration, police and thousands of people from different parts of the district paid homage to Meena.
