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Amir Karim Tantray
Tribune News Service
Jammu, October 23
A disconsolate Shimu Devi was waiting to receive the mortal remains of her husband, Lance Naik Ranjit Singh, on Monday when she went into labour.
She was rushed to the Ramban District Hospital. She delivered a baby girl the following morning at 5 am, even as her husband’s body lay at home, the family waiting for daybreak to begin preparations for the last rites.
Ranjit Singh was killed in an ambush along the LoC in Sunderbani sector, Jammu and Kashmir, on October 21 in which two more soldiers died too. The couple had been looking forward to parenthood after 10 years of marriage. Ranjit Singh was to visit his home this week.
“Shimu Devi conceived after undergoing numerous medical tests. The entire family, especially Ranjit Singh, was elated and there was cheer all around,” said a family member, shocked at the tragic turn of events. “Fate has played a cruel joke,” he murmured.
Stony-faced, Shimu Devi was in hospital tending to her newborn when Ranjit Singh’s body was cremated on the banks of the Chenab at noon with military honours.
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