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Upper Caste Villagers Deny Land For Funeral Of Soldier Slain In Pampore Attack: Report

Upper Caste Villagers Deny Land For Funeral Of Soldier Slain In Pampore Attack
SRINAGAR, INDIA - JUNE 26: Senior police and paramilitary officers carry the coffins containing the bodies of slain Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men who had lost their lives in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore during a wreath laying ceremony on the outskirts of Srinagar, on June 26, 2016 in Srinagar India. Eight Central Reserve Police Force men were killed and 20 others were injured after militants ambushed a convoy of the security force on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. Two militants were also killed in the gunfight, the second major attack on a security convoy this month. (Photo by Waseem Andrabi/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
SRINAGAR, INDIA - JUNE 26: Senior police and paramilitary officers carry the coffins containing the bodies of slain Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men who had lost their lives in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore during a wreath laying ceremony on the outskirts of Srinagar, on June 26, 2016 in Srinagar India. Eight Central Reserve Police Force men were killed and 20 others were injured after militants ambushed a convoy of the security force on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. Two militants were also killed in the gunfight, the second major attack on a security convoy this month. (Photo by Waseem Andrabi/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- Constable Vir Singh was among the eight men of the Central Reserve Police Force who were killed by militants in Pampore on Saturday, the deadliest attack to hit the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years.

Back in his village in the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh, upper caste men denied Singh's family just a little bit of public land for his funeral, The Times of India reported today.

It was only after district officials intervened that the upper caste villagers gave up by a 10 by 10 meter plot for the last rites of the soldier, who belonged to the Nat (acrobat) community, TOI reported.

"In the morning, the local villagers had raised objections over martyred soldier's family's demand to cremate his body on public land and then erect a statue of him. But later, after long hours of talk with SDM, the villagers agreed to respect the family demand," Vijay Singh, the Gram Pradhan, told TOI.

Singh, who joined the CRPF in 1981, was the sole bread earner for his family, who live in one small room, which has tin shed as a roof, TOI reported. Rajni, his 22-year-old daughter, is pursuing M.Sc, while Ramandeep, his 18-year-old son, is pursuing B.Sc, and Sandeep, his 16-year-old son, recently cleared his Class 12 examinations.

Ramsneh, Singh's father, who is a rickshaw puller in Firozabad, said, "My son gave up his life to protect the land of our country, but over here our own people have objections to give a 10-by-10 sq. meter land for his cremation."

"I don't know, who will now take care of his children," he said.

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