Late Major Kaustubh Rane's Wife Kanika Joins Indian Army to Pay Tribute to Her Husband

Kanika Rane is perhaps one of the most inspiring women in recent times. As a tribute to her husband Major Kaustubh Rane, she also joined the Indian Army. Major Kaustubh lost his life in August 2018 with three other Indian soldiers. These soldiers were Hameer Singh, Mandeep Singh, and Vikramjeet Singh. The army men were killed during an attempt to foil the infiltration bid at the Line of Control near Gurez Sector in Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

The Logical India reported that Kanika was commissioned in the Indian Army on Saturday, November 21. She has completed her training at the Indian Army’s Officers Training Academy in Chennai.

Elaborating upon how the period of training was, Kanika said that mental strength was needed more than physical endurance. Emphasising on the things that she did for the first time, Kanika revealed that she had never ran 100 meters before her training started. But now she is running a massive distance of 40 kilometres. She mentioned that this was only possible because of her motivation, determination and resilience. Kanika also added that mental courage and stamina can help overcome anything in the world.

Meanwhile, 230 cadets, including 181 men and 49 women passed out from the Officers Training Academy in Chennai on Saturday.

It was only last year that Kanika had received a gallantry award on behalf of her late husband. Before joining the services, she was working as a project manager in a multinational company. She is survived by Kaustubh’s parents and son Agastya.

Defence PRO of Udhampur has shared a video on Twitter, in which she can be heard saying, “I would not say it was an easy choice, especially given that my husband always asked me to pursue my dreams, my goals and my objectives. But I knew that had our places been switched, he would have also done the same for me. I am here to fulfil his objectives and the dreams he has left behind by being in his place. Had I been at his place, he would have done the same for me.”

Captioning the video, PRO Udhampur, Ministry of Defence, wrote, “Dedicated to the Youth of India! Mrs Kanika Rane who collected the gallantry medal of her brave heart husband #MajorKaustubhRane this year during the Investiture Ceremony at Udhampur, speaks to us today, as Lt Kanika Rane!”

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