Army widow takes up cause of other ‘veer naris’ in Raj

JAIPUR: A war widow is raising the voice of other war widows in Jaipur. Niharika Shekhawat, (32), a widow of a Major who was died in a terrorist attack in Kashmir in 2010 has opened an NGO for war widows. Here, she is taking up the cases of war widows from rural areas. From remarriage to setting-up livelihood means, counselling to overcome the trauma and to education of their children, she is taking up all their concerns.
Niharika married Major Joginder Shekhawat in 2008 in Jaipur. Her life was like a dream until March 20, 2010 when her family received the sad news. Shekhawat succumbed to his injuries after being injured when terrorists threw grenades at his post in Kashmir.
Shocked by her husband’s death, Niharika lost consciousness for 22 days. Unable to come to terms with the tragedy, she started losing memory. She went into depression and was under medical supervision for a year. She shifted to her parents who also live in Jaipur for recovering from the tragedy. “The incident has changed my relationship with in-laws over some dispute. I have been living at my parents place since then,” said Niharika.
She added that during her dispute she realized that war widows faces lot of problems in receiving the benefits from the government. “In most of the cases I find that war widows are not aware of their rights while in many cases they were denied the rights like jobs, pension and other financial benefits etc by their in-laws,” said Niharika.
She had keen interest in higher studies which she couldn’t complete due to her marriage. It was the first thing she pursued to rebuild her life. “I completed my MBA in HR followed by job opportunities which I refused. Somewhere, I had the feeling to do something for defence widows,” said Niharika who formed her NGO in 2013, ‘Regards through Humanity.’
She takes up counselling of widows and organizes seminars to create awareness on their rights.