As she battles the grief of losing both her children — a daughter (23) and son (24) — to violent deaths, the mother struggles to explain her pain in words. The father adds, “This time I am alone.... Neither politicians nor the media came to my home....”
A policeman outside the victim’s house. Express
Inside a one-room accommodation on the outskirts Sonepat’s Kalupur village, only a few have gathered to mourn the murdered son of a Dalit couple. Outside two armed policemen stand guard. The family that was still struggling to come to terms with the brutal gangrape and murder of their daughter three months ago, now says they have been left alone in their fight for justice.
“My son was killed just to pressure us in the gangrape and murder case of my daughter,” alleges the 47-year-old father, a Dalit labourer. As she battles the grief of losing both her children — a daughter (23) and son (24) — to violent deaths, the mother struggles to explain her pain in words. The father adds, “This time I am alone…. Neither politicians nor the media came to my home….”
Momin Malik, a human rights activist and lawyer, who has agreed to fight the family’s legal battle free of the cost, says: “The police and others have apparently defamed the family. Even the false claims of recovery of drugs alongside his (the son’s) body were made by police.” The police, however, say they have set up an SIT headed by Sonepat DSP Rahul Dev to probe the matter, but have not succeeded in arresting any of the three accused wanted in the case of the Dalit youth’s murder, which happened in Sonepat on August 1.
“As of now there seems to be no connection between the case of gang rape and the brother’s murder. We will be able to speak with certainty only after arrest of the accused,” said Dev. “The police found some drugs near his body in Sonepat,” he added. The father claimed there was a “conspiracy”. “My son was not a drug addict,” he said. In May, the gang rape and murder of the girl had seen politicians across parties visit the family. But days after, her brother was arrested on the charge of raping a woman. “The woman who charged my son, was known to him for the many years. Why did she level such allegations after the murder of my daughter? It was an attempt to pressurise us,” said the father.
