Bhagalpur: The funeral of martyred soldier Ankit Yadav, 35, was held in knee-deep water in his ancestral village on Thursday. Due to flooding, the cremation ground could not be reached, and the ceremony was performed on the roadside near a brick kiln. His four-year-old son lit the pyre as family, villagers, and officials stood in the water to bid farewell. Former Union minister Ashwini Choubey also attended to honour the soldier’s sacrifice.
The soldier’s body, wrapped in the tricolour and decorated with flowers, was brought to Rangra block in a vehicle. However, the vehicle got stuck in the waterlogged streets. Villagers carried the coffin on their shoulders through the floodwater, chanting patriotic slogans and holding the national flag. His wife, Ruby Kumari, broke down in grief, removed her mangalsutra, and placed it on her husband’s body. She questioned army officials about how the attack happened despite the whole battalion being present.
Ankit Yadav was serving as a sergeant in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district. On the night of 12 August, terrorists opened fire, and Ankit was shot while fighting back. He was taken to two army medical posts for treatment but died on 13 August at 6:15 am. He had been posted in Kashmir only a month earlier after being transferred from Meerut and had returned from home leave just 15 days before his death.
Ankit joined the army in 2009, fulfilling his childhood dream of serving the nation. He married Ruby Kumari in 2017, and they have two sons – Utkarsh, 4, and Upanshya, 2. The youngest of four brothers, Ankit came from a family with a strong military tradition. His father is a farmer, his mother a homemaker, and two of his elder brothers have also served in the armed forces. “It is a sad day for our family, but we are proud of his sacrifice,” said his elder brother Niranjan Yadav.
