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Journalism of Courage
On Sunday morning, Kalu Prasad (45) stands outside the mortuary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. His 20-year-old daughter, who was stabbed by her friend in Delhi Cantonment last week, died of her injuries the previous night.
“Just two days before the incident, my daughter asked if she could come and visit me,” says Prasad as he waits with 20 members of his extended family to take his daughter’s body back home for the last rites.
The farmer lives in Gauri Kalan village in Banda, UP. This is his third visit to the Capital since his daughter, 16-year-old son, and wife moved to Delhi. The family lives in a one-room rented accommodation near Jain Mandir in Delhi Cantonment. His wife, Saroj, works as a domestic help and the son does odd jobs.
Prasad says his daughter was young but worked hard at a sari shop in Sadar Bazar to provide for the family. It was at this shop, they say, that she met the accused, Amit (20).
On April 6, around 9 pm, the woman was returning from work when she encountered Amit. “Police said she gave a statement that they were in a relationship but she wanted to end it — and that’s why he killed her. If he loved her and wanted to marry her, how can he do that,” asks her elder brother, Ganesh (21). He lives with his father in the village, helping him till the land while working as a contractual labourer.
The incident took place two days before the woman’s birthday. Video footage showed her and Amit engaged in a heated argument near Kirby Place bus stop before he stabbed her in the neck and chest. The accused then allegedly attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the stomach. Amit, who was also recuperating at DDU Hospital, was arrested on charges of murder after he was discharged on Saturday, said police.
When questioned earlier, the accused had told police he suspected the woman was in touch with other men. “In her statement [before her death], the victim said… she didn’t want to continue the relationship and a dispute arose between them,” DCP (Southwest) Surender Chaudhary had said earlier.
Sitting inside an e-rickshaw parked near the mortuary, Ganesh says his brother called to give him the news. “Around 10 am yesterday, my brother called and said she had died. We are waiting for the post-mortem proceedings to be done.”
The 16-year-old brother says, “She was the closest to me. We were trying to save up to buy a house worth Rs 10 lakh.”
He and his elder sister, Pinky, 25, who is married, had made plans to celebrate the woman’s birthday on April 8. “I saved up Rs 2,000 to get printed wallpapers for our house. She loved colours, and always talked about how the walls in our house were so dull.”
At 1.30 pm, the post-mortem is done and the body is loaded in a mini ambulance and taken to her house.
The family now says all they want now is the right punishment for the murderer. “I have not just lost my sister, but also my friend. We want the maximum punishment for him (Amit),” says Ganesh.
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