An emotional letter addressed to the baby daughter of martyred Army paratrooper Mukut Bihari Meena is going viral on social media. The letter, penned in Hindi by Jitendra Kumar Soni, District Magistrate of Jhalawar, Rajasthan, tells the baby girl, Aaru, of the heroic sacrifice of her soldier father and the outpouring of respect at his funeral.

Soni begins by writing that the sight of the baby girl touching the Tiranga on her father’s coffin and then lying down on it was a heart-wrenching sight.

“When you are a little older, you will understand that your father hailed from Larania, a small village of about 100 houses in Jhalawar’s Khanpur tehsil and that he laid down his life for the country during a search operation in Kashmir,” Soni wrote.

In the letter, the DM said that Meena had promised his family, including three sisters, that he will visit home on Raksha Bandhan attained martyrdom fulfilling an even deeper and stringent promise he had made to the nation.

“When you grow up, you will see from the photos and videos taken on the day of your father’s funeral that he has now become an integral part of the nation. Thousands of people marched with his final journey today. They raised slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ walking behind the martyr’s coffin wrapped tricolour,” wrote Soni adding that the entire sky reverberated with chants in praise of her father.

“Aaro, when you grow up, you will feel a sense of pride reading about the martyrs of the country. You may not be able to hold the hand of your martyr father, but you will get to hear the tales of your father’s martyrdom every day,” he wrote.

Soni wrote that martyrs are immortal.

Read the complete letter here:

The mortal remains of Meena were consigned to flames with full military honour in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district on Saturday.

Meena, a 3 para regiment jawan who used to work with 8 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed on 11 July during a gunfight with a militant group in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

#BraveIndianArmyJawan Hum Jeeyenge aur Marenge ae Watan tere liye! Last post sounded & Ptr Mukut Bihari Meena cremated with full military honours at his native village Ladania in Jhalawar distt of Rajasthan. pic.twitter.com/Qpn8FcVOU4

— PRO Defence Rajasthan (@PRODefRjsthn) July 14, 2018

The funeral was held at his village in Khanpur area with full military honours. Public representatives, officials from the Army, the district administration, the police and a large number of local people were present to pay homage to him.