A pall of gloom descended as martyred marine jawan of Indian Navy Johnson Behera was laid to rest with full military honours at his native village Achalkote village under Tigiria police station in Cuttack district on Sunday.
When the mortal remains of Behera reached Achalkote village in the morning, hundreds of locals joined the funeral procession chanting ‘Jai Jawan’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. They also paid tributes to the martyr. Emotional scenes were witnessed as soon as the body reached home.
Behera was martyred in Port Blair on August 3. His body was carried through an aircraft by some Navy officials to Bhubaneswar on Sunday morning. Subsequently, the body was brought to the village in a procession.
A 21-gun salute was accorded to the martyred jawan. Besides tributes from the Navy were given before the final rites were performed.
“For the jawans, who are martyred by rendering their services to the country, we follow certain procedures during their ceremonial rite. We give them a guard of honour and gun salute. After completion of some formalities, we hand over the body to the family members. Compensation will be provided to the family members of the martyred jawan after the completion of the due procedure,” said Navy official S Satish.
“Our constituency, especially Achalkote Gram Panchayat has been shocked after the incident. He was a great human being. We are all deeply shocked at his untimely demise. The State government will extend its helping hand to the bereaved family members of the martyred jawan as far as possible,” said Agriculture Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain.