‘My son had promised to come home on Friday, now he is dead’
Shakuntala Kunwar was looking forward to a festive week. Her house in western Bihar’s Rohtas district had been decked up for her granddaughter’s marriage on Friday and the youngest of her six children was coming back home after a punishing assignment in Chhattisgarh.
But that was not to be. Tuesday began for the 80-year-old with news of her youngest son Krishna Kumar Pandey’s death in a militant ambush in Sukma. An inconsolable Shakuntala only keeps repeating her son’s “unkept promise”.
“Krishna had promised to visit the village on April 28 to attend the marriage of his niece. He will never come now,” she says in a choked voice, adding that she brought up Krishna with great difficulty as a widow.
Six families across Bihar were left devastated by Monday’s militant violence in the heart of India’s red corridor. The six Saurabh Kumar (Patna), Naresh Yadav (Darbhanga), Abhay Kumar (Vaishali), Ranjeet Kumar (Sheikhpura), Krishna Kumar Pandey (Rohtas) and Abhay Mishra (Bhojpur) - were among the 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers who died in a Maoist attack in Sukma district, Chhattisgarh.
At the house of Abhay Kumar Mishra at Tulsi Harigaon village in Bhojpur district’s Jagdishpur block, the family struggles to come to terms with the death.
His mother Madhuri last spoke to Abhay 10 days ago. “The conversation could not be completed as the connectivity was poor. Many attempts later to speak to him on phone also proved futile,” she says, tears rolling down her cheeks.
For Sourav Kumar’s family, controlling the flood of mourners proved difficult. “My son has attained martyrdom for the country. My family is proud of him,” his father says.
Ranjeet Kumar’s loved ones in Sheikhpura district’s Phoolchod village appear shell-shocked. “He had applied for leave on April 20 and was expected home any day this week. We were eagerly awaiting his visit,” Ranjeet Kumar’s cousin Parsuram Kumar told HT over phone.
Ahila village in Darbhanga district too was grief struck. Naresh Yadav, a native of the village, was among the Sukma ambush victims. Father of three minor children — two sons and a daughter — Yadav was scheduled to visit Ahila on April 27.
At Loma village in Vaishali district, Abhay Kumar’s mother Rama Devi is crestfallen but prides in her son’s “martyrdom”. “Had there been a face-to-face encounter, he would have eliminated all the rebels,” a sobbing Rama Devi says. Abhay had celebrated his first wedding anniversary on March 10. “If I die on duty, it will be God’s reward to me because I am born to serve nation,” he had apparently told his relatives during his marriage anniversary celebrations.
But not everyone is sad. Krishna Pandey’s elder brother Ashok is angry at the “apathy” of government officers. “No government officer has visited us. Only a chowkidar came to inform me about the death of my brother,” he says.