Nimrat Kaur recalls losing her father to terrorists in Kashmir at age 11

Actor Nimrat Kaur has spoken about losing her father, Major Bhupender Singh, an Indian Army officer who was abducted and killed by terrorists in Kashmir in January 1994. Nimrat was just 11 years old at the time. Her father was later honoured with the Shaurya Chakra after his death.

In a recent interview, The Lunchbox star described how the abduction happened. Her father was on his way back from a duty he had been assigned when men dressed in army fatigues, pretending to be soldiers, took him away. Over the next seven days, the captors made a series of demands, including the release of people being held in custody in India. Nimrat called those demands ridiculous.

The family had come to Kashmir to visit him when it happened. Nimrat, her mother and her sister were first staying in Verinag and were moved to Srinagar once the situation was no longer safe. On the seventh day, they were told that Major Singh had been killed. Nimrat said she later learned that he had told his captors he had a family and two girls, and she believes his last thoughts were of them.

The suddenness of the loss still stays with her. She remembers watching her father leave for work that morning, and the next time she saw him, he was in a coffin. She said there was never any closure, and that even after a few decades, nothing has healed the hurt for her, her mother, her sister or the rest of the family.

After Major Singh's death, Nimrat, her mother and her sister moved to Noida, where her maternal grandparents lived. Her mother was only in her early to mid-30s when the life she knew fell apart, and with support from family, especially on her maternal side, she raised her two daughters and rebuilt their lives. Nimrat said her mother found the courage to carry on because she knew her girls had their whole lives ahead of them. She added that she knows of very few women who could have managed it single-handedly and with such dignity.