Felicitated- pragmatics and connotations

Solution 1:

A better choice, at least in non-Indian english, would have been 'honoured'. 'Felicitated' almost suggests that a large reward was forthcoming. Also, in the first instance they should have omitted those commas in order to avoid the sense that the mother was the one who died in the line of duty.

Solution 2:

Felicitation comes from the verb felicitate, which means "congratulate," and has a Latin root, felicitas, "happiness," from felix, "happy or fortunate." (vocabulary.com)

Felicitation (You'll almost always see the noun felicitation in its plural form, felicitations)

• The act of felicitating; a wishing of joy or happiness; congratulation

Usage notes: A man is often wished congratulations on the event of his engagement or marriage. However, it is considered rude to "congratulate" a lady (for "catching" a husband?), so she is wished "felicitations" instead.

(en.wiktionary.org).

It appears that in an attempt to avoid using the idiomatic "congratulated", the writer preferred "felicitated". It still is not the right word or the right phrase for the occasion stated in the OP.