“Hey Saviours! You too need a Will…”

Isn’t it enough weight on the shoulders of our soldiers? Don’t they have enough insecurity to deal with on the field of duty already? We are talking about the lives of people guarding the territory of our nation from all sorts of menace, insurgencies and terrorists’ attacks. Our Army Officers, Navy Personnel and Air Force Cadets, people who act as the frontline defense for our nation, the ones who have paid their dues not only towards their families but also towards each and every citizen who enjoys the peaceful night’s sleep and well-being at the cost of the sleepless nights they spend on guard. Don’t we have a debt to pay towards their unwavering sacrifices? We want to humbly play the role of spreading the awareness among them to protect their loved ones by leaving them behind with a ‘Will’ to save them from all the troubles in case they have to make the ultimate sacrifice for the nation by laying down their lives.

For most of us ‘Army’ is just a four letter word and also not intending to stereotype but most of the common folks have this vague notion that army officers are really well paid and that their families are without worries set for their life time, receiving a lump sum amount as compensation in case of death during active duty. Sadly, that notion is only built out of ill-informed people spreading rumors without any hard base facts. Obviously army personnel enjoy a stable salary alike any other field of work, yet far less in comparison to that they have to put at stake during their service. Think of the times they spend alone, cut off from their families, cooped up to serve the nation for a greater good and if needed even lay down their lives in the name of their nation and its protection. In general, I personally don’t really think that it would make a difference if I’m paid as compensation for losing my father, brother, sister or any member of my family per say. No materialistic possession could ever fill the void left behind by the loss of a loved one. Ask the wife whose husband left him with two kids before losing his life on the line of duty. Ask the kids who never realized that it was the last time they were ever going to get a hug from their father. Ask the brother who held his younger sibling’s dead cold corpse and wished it was him instead. Ask them and you’ll know the value one trifle life can hold to another. This is where our prestigious company ‘Dil Se Will’ has an integral role to play. Our Wills are properly organized and already incorporated with a protective clause. 

We as humans are a very fragile species. Smartest of all but easily breakable too. Even a normal person can lose the chance of seeing another day considering the various unforeseen incidences and accidents that occur in our daily lives. For an army man, let us presume those chances are ten folds more, a possibility they have to endure and live with each day at service, a possibility that it just might be their last day among the mortal souls. That there was not just a random calculation, let us shuffle through the history of our country. India since 1970’s has been subject to the target of more than 12,000 terrorists’ attacks, out of which more than 30% were on army officers and command posts.

Going over a few renowned ones, specially the URI incident which caught a lot of public attention ‘after’ the adaptation of the story on the Bollywood big screen and got everyone in the groove of “How’s the Josh?”. On 18^th September 2016, four Terrorists attacked the Indian Army brigade headquarters in the town of Uri in Jammu & Kashmir. Left 17 dead and 30 injured. Back then it was the deadliest attack on forces in Kashmir in two decades.

Next one was on 10^th February 2018, Terrorists attacked an Indian army camp at Sunjuwan, Jammu, killing 11 soldiers and injuring 20 others.

Lastly the most recent one, on 14^th February 2019, on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway, a convoy carrying security personnel was attacked by a suicide bomber in the Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir. The blast claimed lives of 40 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) officers and the bomber, 35 were gravely injured.

Talking about movies we can take the example of the Bengali movie ‘Bela Seshe’ to get an overview of a general family and the importance of a Will, the movie depicts a typical Bengali Family and how naïve few people are of their family’s savings or how to access them, if by any chance the bread earner passes away all of a sudden, the other spouse might have no clue as to what their savings were or where for that matter.

Well for that reason The Succession Act 1925, provides the scope of ‘Privileged Wills’, it is a scope provided to all serving officers over the age of 18, engaged in actual warfare or employed for an expedition to make an instant will or leave behind instructions for the formation of one while still being in the battlefield. A Privileged Will can be made in writing or orally in the presence of two witnesses, the testator here leaves his legacy by dictating his will or giving directions to execute it to a person of trust and mostly a comrade. Basically it is an instant command or instructions of formulating a Will in case of the demise of the testator. In 90% cases the person whom the directions and declaration is given to might die in the field of duty after the testator or on the same time and date alongside the testator. Leaving behind the families without a Will to execute and challenges to prove their hereditary succession over the property and savings of the deceased person. Thus in most Privileged Wills, there is no guarantee of the life of the executor or witnesses after the demise of the testator in the active field of duty. Here we can find another proverb coming true, ‘Prevention is better than cure’.

Here ‘Prevention’ would come in the form of making their Wills than opting for Privileged Wills. Protecting their family in advance so that they can be saved of all the unnecessary challenges after the demise of the testator. Our aim solely being to reduce the chaos in the society caused by the complexity and challenges in court procedures in case of succession. Due to our unique drafting and presence of a protective clause our wills might not face any challenges in the future even in the absence of codicils.

Being in their shoes ask yourself, what about the fathers who didn’t get to hug their kids a final time? The husbands who couldn’t kiss their spouses that one last time? The parents who have to carry their own child to the pyre? Where are those names whose sacrifice fades away with time? We want to honor the souls of all who laid down their own life to save the ones of others. Lastly our awareness initiative is not only for the people enrolled for defense but for every soul who suffers an untimely demise, as every life counts and everyone has a family they care for more than anything. Our team of Dil Se Will promises to be by the side of your families 24x7, helping them out in every way possible within our capabilities, we would like the opportunity to defend the legacy of our men of defense. Do share the blog if you know any defense personnel or group which needs our assistance, we want to be by your side during your lifetime and by the side of your families in your afterlife- your legacy; our responsibility.