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Updated: May 12, 2020 22:15 IST

A CRPF trooper who narrowly escaped the Pulwama suicide bombing in February became the toast of social media after he was seen in a video clip feeding a differently-abled child in Srinagar’s Old City area while on duty.

The CRPF shared the video on Tuesday, exactly three months after the attack that killed 40 troopers.

Head constable Iqbal Singh was deployed on law and order duty at Safakadal on Monday when he fed the child from his lunch box in the afternoon during a strike.

A 31-second video of the incident shows the CRPF man hand feeding the child who appears to be specially-abled. At one point when the food sticks on the child’s mouth, the man wipes that with his left hand. And when a Kashmiri voice behind the camera apparently asks the child if he wants water, the CRPF man offers him water.

“Singh has done a very moving work. He was deployed at Safakadal when at lunch time a paralytic child gestured him towards his lunch box. He immediately started feeding him and some Kashmiri shot the video. We don’t even know who shot it,” said public relations officer of CRPF, Sanjay Sharma.

Singh is a driver and is stationed with 49 battalion of CRPF in Srinagar.

“There was stone pelting in some parts of Downtown (Old City) on Monday during the strike. There is always pressure on the jawans on strike days and despite that he did this work has won many hearts,” said Sharma.

The video was widely shared on social media including on the twitter handle of Srinagar Sector CRPF which was also retweeted by CRPF Madadgar.

“Humanity is the mother of all religions,” the CRPF wrote on its Twitter handle.

"Humanity is the mother of all religions"



HC Driver Iqbal Singh of 49 Bn Srinagar Sector CRPF deployed on LO duty feeds a paralysed Kashmiri kid in Nawakadal area of Srinagar. In the end, asks him "Do you need water?"



"Valour and compassion are two sides of the same coin" pic.twitter.com/zYQ60ZPYjJ — Srinagar Sector CRPF 🇮🇳 (@crpf_srinagar) May 14, 2019

Twitter was awash with praise for Singh.

Former chief minister and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehboob Mufti also took to Twitter to “salute this man’s sense of compassion & humanity” adn Congress leader Salman Nizami hailed the trooper.

Armed forces operating in Kashmir are often tarred with the same brush. But that generalisation can sometimes be grossly unfair. Salute this man’s sense of compassion & humanity. https://t.co/qou4Mk5NBj — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) May 13, 2019

Kindness is the best form of humanity: @JmuKmrPolice never fails to amaze us all. Salute this cop! pic.twitter.com/rnlfMB4bLw — Salman Nizami (@SalmanNizami_) May 13, 2019

One Twitter user described as “great gesture of humanity”.

Another wrote , “This is my India that I am proud off..god bless the soldier for the gesture .”

CRPF public relations officer Sharma said Iqbal Singh was among the first responders after the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama.

“He was in the third bus after the vehicle which was the target of the Pulwama attack. He did good work on that day as well. He was among the first people who helped the injured,” CRPF public relations officer Sharma said.