The late Jyoti Prakash Nirala was a commando in the Garud Commando force of the Indian Air Force before he was gunned down by militants in an ambush in Jammu and Kashmir. Despite his injuries, Nirala fought and successfully eliminated six militants, one of whom was a major planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
He was a true martyr and was therefore awarded the prestigious Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration on January 2018. Jyoti belonged from Bihar and was the only son and the sole provider of the family.
After his death, the family struggled financially and when the marriage of one of his four sisters got fixed, were in a crisis to arrange funds for her wedding. When his fellow comrades came upon this news they decided to honor his great sacrifice by providing a helping hand.
All the soldiers in the command donated 500 each and they collectively raised an amount of over 5 lakh rupees to help with the wedding. Not just financially, some commandos were involved enough to help arrange the wedding with ease so that the martyr’s family faces no problems whatsoever.
On the day of the wedding, the commandos fulfilled all the duties that a brother would and also stretched their palms forward for the bride to walk as a sign of respect. The deceased jawaan’s father stated that the commando’s that came forward to help were no lesser than his own sons and that his family is grateful to them for the immense help they have provided.
This gesture of the commandos brought much of social media’s attention and acclamation for their participation. This also brought to light the financial discrepancies that the families of these deceased soldiers face and how irrespective of their great sacrifice, their families have to face multitudes of problems if their earning member dies in the line of duty.
