The parents of Captain Anshuman Singh, who was awarded the Kirti Chakra, India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award posthumously, have demanded changes in the Indian Army’s next of kin (NOK) criteria for financial assistance to family members in case of a soldier’s death. Captain Anshuman Singh died while saving his fellow army men from a fire at Siachen in July last year.
His father, Ravi Pratap Singh and mother Manju 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 was quoted by TV9 Bharatvarsh as saying.
“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.
Manju Singh also stated that they want the government to revise the NOK rules so that other parents don’t have to suffer.
What Is NOK Rule?
According to 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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