The parents of Captain Anshuman Singh, who was posthumously awarded Kirti Chakra for exceptional bravery, have sought changes in the Indian Army's next of kin (NOK) criteria for financial assistance to family members in case of a soldier's death.
Anshuman Singh died last year in July during an effort to save his fellow army men from a fire at Siachen.
Ravi Pratap Singh and Manju Singh, the parents of Anshuman Singh, while speaking to a news channel, claimed that their daughter-in-law Smriti Singh doesn't live with them anymore and receives most of the entitlements after their son's death.
“The criteria set to NOK is not correct. I have also spoken to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh about this. Anshuman’s wife doesn’t live with us now, the marriage was just five months old and there is no child. We only have a photo of our son hanging on the wall with a garland on it,” Ravi Pratap Singh told TV9 Bharatvarsh.
“That is why we want the definition of NOK to be fixed. It should be decided that if the wife of the martyr stays in the family, who has how much dependency,” he added.
Anshuman Singh's mother Manju Singh also echoed similar sentiments and said that they want the government to revise the NOK rules so that other parents don’t have to suffer.
In a separate interview, his father said that Smriti took the Kirti Chakra to her home in Gurdaspur along with his photo album, clothes, as well as some other memories.
Speaking to India Today TV, Ravi Pratap Singh said his daughter-in-law also changed the permanent address listed in her son's official documents, from Lucknow to Gurdaspur, to ensure that all correspondence concerning his son takes place with her. He further claimed that he could not even hold the Kirti Chakra awarded to his son by the President on July 5.
India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award Kirti Chakra, which was awarded to Anshuman Singh, was received by his mother Manju Singh and wife Smriti Singh.
Manju Singh, meanwhile, told the publication, "On July 5, I attended the award ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan with Smriti. When we were leaving the event, upon the insistence of Army officers, I held the Kirti Chakra for a photo once. But after that, Smriti took the Kirti Chakra from my hands."
In a video posted by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence on 'X', Smriti had shared her memories of her husband and how they became soulmates.
"He was very much capable. He would tell me, 'I would die with a brass on my chest. I would not die an ordinary death like no one would know'," she recalled.
What is NOK rule?
As per the rules of the Army, if something happens to a personnel in service, the ex-gratia amount is given to the Next of Kin (NOK).
When a person joins the Army, his parents’ or guardians’ names are recorded as the NOK. When that cadet or officer gets married, the name of the person’s spouse is recorded as the person’s next of kin instead of the parents under Army rules.
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