J&K: Shaurya Chakra awardee gets notice to vacate house
Speaking to The Indian Express, Irfan said, “I was promised that my education will be free and I was given admission at the Sainik School at Manasbal.” He completed Class 12 in 2022 and wrote the CUET exam on Friday.
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Irfan Ramzan Sheikh receiving the award in 2019 A 19-year-old Shaurya Chakra awardee, who lost his father in a militant attack in 2017, has been asked to vacate the government accommodation where he has been living with his family.
Irfan Ramzan Sheikh, a former resident of Nagbal, Shopian, received the Shaurya Chakra in 2019. In October 2017, militants killed his father Mohammad Ramzan Sheikh, a former sarpanch associated with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). At the time, 14-year-old Irfan had lunged at one of the militants, killing him. The family’s house was set on fire by a mob the next day. Irfan was decorated with Shaurya Chakra for his bravery and the family moved out of the village in a two-room accommodation on the outskirts of the city.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Irfan said, “I was promised that my education will be free and I was given admission at the Sainik School at Manasbal.” He completed Class 12 in 2022 and wrote the CUET exam on Friday.
“Now, I am being told to pay my school fee for all these years which amounts to Rs 1.2 lakh and I also have a notice stuck to our house, asking me to leave,” he said.
The notice stuck to his door in the last week of May names his mother reads: “You are in unauthorised occupation of the scheduled premises since long without any authority/instruction.No allotment order has been issued in your favour by any competent authority.”
It also states that the family has been asked to furnish an allotment letter but they have failed to do so.
Irfan said at the time they moved in, there were “urgent concerns” for their safety and therefore no one sought an authority letter. “After all this time, I do not know how to show proof. We came here because our house was burnt down and we had nowhere to go.”
His mother works as a helper in J&K’s Sericulture Department.
Director Estates, Kashmir Tariq Ganai, said, “We are definitely looking into this case and we hope to resolve it soon. The humanitarian angle will also be looked at while processing his case.”
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