Tags:
Journalism of Courage
CHANDIGARH, Nov 1: 8220;It is going to be three months since my husband left home for his usual evening walk,8221; says Sunita, adding 8220;we have no news of him since then8221;.
Surjit Lal 55, a superintendent at Panjab University8217;s Publication Bureau, has been missing from his house since the evening of August 7.
In the week after his disappearance, his wife inquired from relatives in case he had met any of them but drew a blank. She registered an FIR on August 16, but so far the police have failed to trace him.
To Sunita8217;s knowledge, her husband had no problems at work and she rejects suggestions that Lal might have abandoned the family as he was unable to meet the expenses involved in marrying his daughters. 8220;Like any parent, he was worried about his daughters8217; marriages, but I don8217;t think he would have left home for that reason. He always said God will help us find suitable matches for them8217; whenever the question of their marriages came up. He loved the girls and never regretted having no son,8221; she says. The Lals have three daughters aged 25, 22 and 16.
She recalls him being in a relaxed and light-hearted mood before his disappearance, 8220;although a few days before that he had told me that he was unable to sleep well8221;.
Sunita is now finding it difficult to make both ends meet. 8220;With our sole breadwinner missing, we don8217;t even have enough to make our day-to-day purchases. The bank account is in his name. So we are without any money,8221; she says. 8220;And I don8217;t know how we will pay the Board examination fee and tuition fee for my youngest daughter, Rajni.8221; Rajni studies in Class X in a government school.
While the eldest daughter, Reshma, was adjusted in the Form cell against daily wages in September, she has not been paid salary so far. The family depends on whatever little Sunita8217;s brothers give.
Lal is described as five-feet-seven-inches tall with wheatish complexion marred by the white patches of leucoderma on face and hands.
