Captain Anshuman Singh was awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously. It was collected by his wife, Smriti Singh, and mother, Manju Singh.
The visuals of Captain Anshuman Singh's wife and mother collecting his Kirti Chakra award left everyone emotional. While people were discussing his love story with his wife, Smriti, and praising his bravery, another issue related to him made headlines. For the unversed, Captain Anshuman Singh died in a fire incident when he was posted in Siachen. The incident occurred in July last year, and he was recently awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously. Now, his parents allegedly claimed that their daughter-in-law, Smriti, went to her hometown and took his award with her.
The Kirti Chakra medal was awarded by President, Droupadi Murmu to Captain Anshuman Singh (posthumously) on July 5, 2024. The soldier's wife, Smriti Singh, and mother, Manju Singh, received it. Captain Singh's parents have now alleged that their daughter-in-law, Smriti, left their home and took his award. They added that Smriti has taken the award to Gurdaspur, her hometown. While Captain Singh's father, Ravi Pratap Singh, claimed that even they have the right to their son's Kirti Chakra medal. PTI quoted Captain Singh's mother as saying.
"My son's award that she took... it belongs to her but the pain is that since she has gone far, the award has also gone far. But if she lived with us, there was no issue."
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Since Smriti Singh left with Captain Singh's award, his parents are demanding the revision in the Indian Army's Next of Kin (NOK) criteria. For the unversed, NOK is a criteria in Indian Army that states if something happens to a person in service, the ex-gratia amount or financial assistance is given to the Next Of Kin. Mr Singh gave an interview to TV9 Bharatvarsh where he said that:
"The criteria set to NOK is not correct. I have also spoken to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh about this. Anshuman's wife doesn't live with us now; the marriage was just five months old, and there is no child. We only have a photo of our son hanging on the wall with a garland on it. That is why we want the definition of NOK to be fixed. It should be decided that if the wife of the martyr stays in the family, who has how much dependency."
Smriti Singh earlier recalled her love story with Captain Anshuman Singh in a video interview with DD. She said that they met on the first day of college and it was like a love at first sight and they continued to have an eight-year-long relationship. She also said to the media that they were planning for their future life, a day before his death. In her words:
"After a month, he got selected into the AFMC (Armed Forces Medical College). We met at an engineering college, but he got selected for a medical college. He was a super-intelligent guy. From then on, after just one month of meeting, it was a long-distance relationship for eight long years. He was very much capable. He would tell me, 'I would die with brass on my chest. I would not die an ordinary death like no one would know."
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Captain Anshuman Singh was posted as a medical officer in the Siachen Glacier area. On July 19, 2023, there was a short circuit in the area. Soon, a major fire engulfed it towards the Indian Army ammunition dump. The incident occurred around 3 am when Captain Singh saw a fibreglass hut in flames. He quickly went ahead to save the people trapped there without caring about his life. However, he got trapped inside a nearby medical investigation room while trying to rescue the essentials but was surrounded by fire and died.
What do you think about the claims by Captain Anshuman Singh's parents? Let us know.
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