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Journalism of Courage
It was an unusual meeting. A girl who was just five years old when her parents were murdered was meeting the man convicted for the murder. At the end of the one-hour meeting, they hugged each other and she said: ‘‘I hope we can be good friends for life for one thing common between the two of us is the tragedy.’’
Seventeen years after Congress leader Lalit Maken and his wife Gitanjali were shot at their New Delhi residence, their daughter Avantika, 22, met Ranjit Singh Gill, 42, the man who has spent 17 years in jail for the murder.
‘‘It is time to move forward and after talking to Ranjit, I realised the fact the two of us are live consequences of political tragedies. If I lost my parents and my childhood, he too has lost his entire youth,’’ she told The Sunday Express after the closed-door meeting.
‘‘I was surprised to meet Ranjit Singh. He is a revelation to me for I thought that the person convicted in the murder of my parents would be a radical and a hard-core terrorist. I never thought he would turn out to be totally opposite, a person who is so well-informed and well-read,’’ she said. ‘‘After meeting him, I have decided that I will stand by him and will not only work for his release but will also help him start life afresh.’’
Gill alias Kuki, sentenced to life for murdering the Congress leader and his wife in New Delhi after the anti-Sikh riots, is on parole. Avantika is now NSUI general secretary. She is in Ludhiana to campaign for Congress candidate Manish Tewari and Gill sought an appointment with her. ‘‘I told her the people who shot her parents had no personal grudge against them… I said if she felt wronged I was ready to spend another 10 years in jail.’’ They reportedly hugged after the meeting.
Gill had applied for state pardon but his case had been postponed for want of ‘‘some more documents.’’ Avantika was against a pardon until today’s meeting. ‘‘My cousin Ajay Maken had asked me to pardon Gill for that would help us garner more votes. I didn’t want to play politics on my parents’ death. But after meeting Ranjit, I realised the two of us need to work together for a better society,’’ she said.
