12-year-old, who survived father’s rage, is stable; doesn’t remember the horror

Pratham (12), the boy who survived an attack by his father on Thursday, is in a physically stable condition now, but is still quiet on the traumatic experience in which he was not only stabbed by his father but had stayed put in the room where the bodies of his parents and brother lay for around 18 hours. “I cannot remember much as I collapsed and was unconscious for most of the time. But even when I did regain consciousness, I just could not get up. It was only when someone repeatedly knocked on the door in the morning that I forced myself to the door,” Pratham said.

Although the initial shock is wearing off, Pratham, who is admitted in PGI, is still in a lot of pain as he received stab wounds on his neck, abdomen and arms. With his immediate family dead, there is also uncertainty over his future. The boy, who celebrated his twelfth birthday only a few days ago, said that he never had the slightest idea that this could occur. “I had not talked to my father for the last two days as I’m usually asleep by the time he returns in the evening. On Thursday, he was present in the house when I and my younger brother returned from school at around 3 pm,” he said, adding that as soon as they entered, the father told them that their mother, whose body lay covered in a sheet, was asleep. The father immediately locked the door and allegedly attacked Pratham first, who fainted on the floor, giving his father the impression that he had died.