Outpouring of grief marks final farewell to slain CRPF jawans

Hundreds of people joined the families of CRPF personnel Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas, who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack, for their funeral amid cries of retribution in the jawans' villages in West Bengal on Saturday.

The tricolour draped coffin of Santra was laid on a stage constructed on a ground near his house at Chakkashi Rajbangshipara village in Howrah district for the people to pay their last respects.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) gave a 21 gun salute as his coffin was kept on the stage.

Even as people called for retribution, the distraught wife of Santra said war was not a solution and will only lead to more deaths.

 

Santra's mother cried inconsolably and his four-year old daughter looked around bewildered as a people gathered to pay their tributes.

The CRPF jawan always wanted to spend time with his family and start a business after his retirement.

Similar scenes were witnessed at Hanspukuria village in Nadia district when the national flag-covered coffin carrying the remains of Biswas reached his home.

The parents of the 27-year-old jawan, who was planning to get married soon, broke down completely at the sight of the coffin.

Biswas, who joined the CRPF in 2014, had told his father Sanyashi, an agricultural labour, that he will repair their house when he comes on leave again before starting plans for marriage.

The CRPF personnel, who accompanied Biswas' coffin to his village, struggled to hold back their tears. They gave a 21-gun salute to their young colleague.

State ministers, senior officers of West Bengal police and administration paid floral tributes to both the slain jawans after their bodies arrived at the villages.

Earlier in the day, Santra and Biswas, who died in the dastardly terror attack on a CRPF contingent in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, were given a sombre farewell at the NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

Union minister Babul Supriyo paid floral tribute to the jawans at the airport and became a pallbearer.

Officers of the CRPF and different wings of the Armed forces laid wreaths on the Tricolour draped coffins as bugles were blown as a mark of respect after they were brought to the airport by a special Indian Air Force flight.