UP: Two Jawans Killed In Rajouri Encounter in J-K; One Was Set To Marry In 15 Days, Another Due Home Within A Week

Uttar Pradesh mourns the death of the two army personnel who were killed in action while fighting with terrorists in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on November 22. On Friday, the mortal remains of both personnel– Captain Shubham Gupta and Paratrooper Sachin Laur– were brought to their hometowns in the Agra and Aligarh districts respectively.

The two were among five security personnel who laid their lives in a 36-long-hours-long gunfight with terrorists in Rajouri district. The other three who were killed in the gunfight are –Captain MV Pranjal (63RR), a resident of Karnataka’s Mangalore, Havaldar Abdul Majid (Para) of Ajote in J&K’s Poonch, and Lance Naik Sanjay Bist of Halli Padli area in Uttarakhand’s Nainital.

Pall of Gloom Descends Upon Nagariya Gorla

Heaviness hung in the air in Nagariya Gorla Village under Tappal Police Station of Aligarh, as the mortal remains of Paratrooper Sachin Laur were brought to his home for last rites. Laur was scheduled to get married on December 8, and most preparations were in place for the special occasion.

“My grief and pain is hard to be defined in words. I lost my young son just 15 days before his marriage. I have nothing to say except the fact that I am a proud father,” said Ramesh Chandra, Sachin’s father who is a farmer by profession.

Laur’s mother, who has lost her senses ever since she came to know about the demise of her son, has stopped talking.

According to his family members, Laur joined Army on March 20, 2019 and was posted as a paratrooper.

“Sachin was sincere since childhood. He had an only aim to become an army officer and perhaps this was the reason why he was selected. I remember the last words of my son who told us that two more terrorists are left, and will leave for home immediately once the operation is over and the remaining two terrorists are neutralized,” his father said.

In the presence of his family members and a massive crowd of villagers, the body of Sachin Laur was cremated on Friday.

Agra Mourns Captain Shubham’s Demise

As mortal remains of Captain Shubham Gupta were brought to his hometown, people, irrespective of caste, religion and age thonged at his home in Phase 2 of Agra’s Prateek Enclave, to pay last tribute to their hero.

“My son has made me proud. He was always eager to do something big for the country and did so while sacrificing his life for his uniform,” said Basant Gupta, Shubham’s father while paying tributes to his son.

Born and brought up in Agra, his friends said Shubham was very fond of army uniform.

“His inclination towards defence forces was much visibles since his school days when he often used to dress like an army personnel at the fancy dress competitions,” one of Shubham’s friends said.

Son of a government lawyer, Captain Gupta joined the Army in 2015 and got commissioned into the ninth battalion of the Army’s elite Parachute regiment, more popularly known as the 9 Para SF (Special Forces) in 2018.

‘Pradharshani Mat Lagao’

While people were busy paying tributes to the martyr, Shubham’s inconsolable mother was remembering the last video call with her son on Diwali when he promised to be home within a week.

But destiny ordained otherwise. Amidst the chants of ‘Shubham Amar Rahe’, ‘Jab Tak Suraj Chand Rahega, Shubham Tera Naam Rahega’, the funeral procession was carried out to his village Kuan Khera where his mortal remains were consigned to flames.

UP Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has announced an ex-gratia of  Rs 50 lakh for the family, a government job to a member of the family and to name a road in the district after martyr.

Amid all the grief, a video went viral on Friday in which Shubham’s inconsolable mother could be seen asking Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Yogendra Upadhyay and BJP MLA GS Dharmesh, who were posing with a cheque for the bereaved family, to stop the exhibition.

“Ye pradarshani mat agao bhai,” the bereaved mother was heard telling Upadhyay, a cabinet minister in the Yogi Government.

The Opposition slammed the BJP-led government for insensitive act. ‘Vultures’, the Congress posted on ‘X’ along with the video.

Leader of Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of Shiv Sena, Priyanka Chaturvedi called the act ‘heartless’ and said that ‘the mother is pleading, yet the minister continues with his photon opportunity. What shameless is this?’.

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha in his post on ‘X’ wrote, “The B in BJP should stand for Besharm and P for Publicity. Captain Shubham Gupta made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty during an encounter in the Rajouri sector. His mother is grieving and eagerly awaiting her son’s mortal remains. In the midst of her inconsolable sorrow, UP government’s BJP Minister Yogendra Upadhyay shamelessly persists on having a photograph taken for his PR – this, despite the mother’s plea to refrain from turning her grief into a spectacle. Shame’.”