The mortal remains of Rifleman Shishir Mall who attained martyrdom at Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday were consigned to flames with full State honours at the Chandrabani cremation ground here on Friday.
The body of martyr was flown from J & K to Jolly Grant air port on Thursday from where it was kept at the Military hospital in Dehradun cantonment. At around 9 AM on Friday, an army vehicle brought the body of Mall to his residence located in Amar Bharti area of Chandrabani.
A pall of gloom had descended in the locality ever since the news of martyrdom of Shishir arrived. Tears rolled out from the eyes of the people of locality when the body of their beloved Shishir was brought to the house.
Sangeta Mall, the wife of Shishir fainted when she saw the body of her husband. After some rituals the body of the brave heart was taken to the cremation ground located nearby.
Apart from family members, friends, relatives, armed forces personnel large number of common people were present during the last rites of the Shishir.
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat, Minister of Forests and sports Dinesh Agarwal, Chairman of State OBC commission Ashok Verma, BJP leader Umesh Agarwa, MlA of Sahaspur Sahdev Singh Pundeer, Director Sainik Kalyan Amithabh Negi and top officials from the armed forces were present in the funeral.
The CM also paid a visit to the house of the martyr and consoled the grieving members of the family. A small contingent of army personnel belonging to 9 Gorkha Rifles (GR) presented a ceremonial guard of honour to the departed soldier.
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and other dignitaries laid floral wreaths on the cask containing mortal remains of Shishir. Slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai and Shishir Mall Amar Rahai continued to rant in the air during the funeral ceremony.
A tearful Sushant the younger brother of Shishir remembered him as a helping sibling who poured a lot of love on everyone. ‘I cannot believe he is no more. I had talked with him on phone on August 27 in which he inquired about my plan to come to Dehradun,” said Sushant.
Father of Shishir, retired army personnel had passed away in the month of March and now death of young Shishir has jolted the family members and relatives. His uncle Devin Sahi remembered Shishir as an affable human being. He informed that Shishir had his schooling from Raja Ram Mohan Rai Academy and after doing class XII he kept his family tradition and joined the army.
Sheetal Basnat a distant relative of Shishir said that the government should do something for Sangeeta the widow of Shishir. Shishir Mall was part of the army team which participated in an operation at ladoora village of Sopore district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. In the encounter he sustained fatal bullet injuries which resulted in his death.