Himanshi Narwal, a PhD scholar and online teacher, has become the face of the Pahalgam massacre.

A viral video, shot soon after the killing, shows a bewildered Himanshi wearing a mustard shearling jacket. She tells the person behind the camera in Pahalgam: “We were eating bhelpuri when a man came and told my husband you are not Muslim and shot him.”

Himanshi’s husband, Lt Vinay Narwal of the Indian Navy, was one of the tourists killed on Tuesday.

She was photographed at the terror attack scene sitting beside the body of her husband, dressed in a dark pullover and grey shorts. Clearly visible were her bridal bangles.

The grainy yet haunting image drives home the human cost of the insurgency in Kashmir that the Centre has long assured to have wiped out.

They were married in Mussoorie on April 16 and had planned a honeymoon in Europe. A delay in visas and Narwal’s responsibilities at work made them settle for a closer destination. He was an engineer from Haryana’s Karnal. She is from Gurgaon.

Himanshi was seen crying inconsolably when wreaths were laid before his coffin at Delhi airport, amid a naval guard of honour. She stood before the coffin, her bridal bangles taken off, her words muffled by her sobs. She was heard saying: “We should all be proud of him.”

She said Jai Hind and saluted Lt Narwal.

Lt Narwal was posted at the South Naval Command in Kochi since last year. He would have turned 27 on May 1.

His grandfather Hawa Singh, a retired police officer, said they come from a family of soldiers. “I have diabetes. Before going on their honeymoon, they told me not to have too much sugar,” he told reporters.

Narwal’s neighbour Naresh Bansal said: “After the marriage, everyone was celebrating and was in a happy mood. And now suddenly this sad news comes.”

Another neighbour, Seema, recalled that there were grand celebrations at his home. Not just the Narwal family, but the entire neighbourhood was celebrating after the wedding.

“They were planning a honeymoon in Switzerland, but decided to go to Kashmir instead, taking into account the leave he had.... We can’t imagine what his family is going through,” she said.

There was anger among the Karnal residents and many neighbours of Narwal, who thronged his residence and demanded that the Centre give a befitting reply to Pakistan for “aiding and abetting terrorism”.

Narwal’s father Rajesh Kumar is a government employee, mother Asha Devi a homemaker, and younger sister Shrishti a student.

Additional reporting by PTI