CRPF trooper who survived Pulwama attack returns home

Gorakhpur: Two weeks after he was injured in the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 of his colleagues dead, CRPF constable Awadhesh Kumar on Thursday returned to his native village here and celebrated his daughter's birthday.

The trooper received a grand welcome at his village Aabadi Sakhni on Wednesday evening as he was greeted by many locals as well as political leaders, including those from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Not willing to speak about terror attack, Kumar said he was happy to celebrate the birthday of his daughter, who turned two on Thursday. "I am very happy that I am celebrating the second birthday of my beloved daughter Jyoti," he said.

Asked about his injuries, the CRPF constable, who had joined the force in 2011 said, "My head and hands were injured. Now I am better and ready to leave home on call (of duty)."

Forty CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 orchestrated by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Following the incident, India bombed and destroyed JeM's biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC).

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan's father too was overjoyed to see his son back home. "I am feeling very happy, as my son is in front of me and celebrating his daughter’s birthday," an emotional Satyanarayan Kumar said.

"A lot of people, including political leaders, came to meet us, but no one from district administration came," he rued. "I saw him on television when (Union) home minister Rajnath Singh went to meet the injured soldiers at Srinagar hospital.

He called me that time and informed me about Deoria's martyr Vijay Maurya, but didn't tell me a word about his injury," he said further.