Father grieving death of son pulls Meerut back from brink

And even though it was subsequently found that Rakeshs sons killing had nothing to do with the religious conflict,the state government has,in recognition of his rare gesture,given him the Rs 10 lakh it had announced as compensation assuming his son was a riot victim.

Karan Kaushik,a class 11 student,was allegedly brutally beaten with a shovel and killed by Salman,Shoaib and Soni on September 10. Karan had sold his mobile phone to them and they owed him Rs 800. Karan got into a scrap with them when they refused to pay and ended up dead.

However,when his body was discovered in a pre-dug grave in Shah Vilayat graveyard that evening,neither the police nor the Kaushik family knew the circumstances of his death. Rumours swirled that the religious violence had reached Meerut and Karan had become a victim.

Hundreds of angry Hindus gathered outside the Kaushik residence in lane number 2 of Subhash Nagar,shouting laash ke badle laash a body for a body. Shops shut,people rushed home and the city was deserted.

Nervous district authorities then asked Rakesh,employed in a Vrindavan temple,to appeal for calm. The weeping father agreed and addressed the crowd through a police microphone.

I have lost my son but what are you people doing? Your act will neither bring my son back nor will it console my grieving family. Please maintain peace and live like brothers or else the city will be ruined, Rakesh said.

The appeal,made as Karans body lay waiting to be cremated,is said to have had its effect on the mob,which dispersed peacefully.

Police,who had rounded up Salman and Shoaib for questioning based on some leads given by Karans grandfather,later in the night established that they had allegedly killed him over the mobile phone payment. Soni was arrested the next day.

We had announced the compensation the same evening but later found that the boys killing was an act of crime and had nothing to do with the riots, district magistrate Navdeep Rinwa told The Indian Express.

But his fathers act had no parallel considering the fact that his son was killed on the same day and his body was lying in the house. I requested that the compensation that had been announced be given from the chief ministers discretionary fund to honour the father and the government agreed, he said.