On Mother's Day, aged mother lends shoulder to martyr son's bier

As the country celebrated Mother's Day, an aged woman in Gurdaspur walked in searing heat today as she lent a shoulder to the bier of her son, CRPF jawan Mandeep Kumar, who was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Tears rolled down Kunti Devi's face as she walked.

Kumar was the only child of Devi and her husband Nanak Chand.

The CRPF jawan had succumbed after being injured in an exchange of fire between militants and security forces in Pulwama district late on Friday.

Even though inconsolable, Devi mustered strength to assert she was proud of her brave son's sacrifice.

"I am sad, yet proud at the same time at his supreme sacrifice for the sake of the nation," Devi said as she carried the bier, supported by others, to a cremation ground near her village.

A large number of people reached the funeral site. Many of them raised "Pakistan Murdabad" slogans.

Kumar was cremated with full honours and a gun salute.

Earlier this month, Kumar had come home on a week-long holiday. The young jawan was unmarried and the parents were looking for a suitable girl.

Devi and Chand, a painter by profession, had planned to visit a relative today to see a girl, locals said.