‘Our hopes have died with our sons’
The family of murdered Thakurganj brothers is not only mired in grief but also hit hard financially
LUCKNOW : The house of Arman, 21, and Imran, 23, the two brothers who were brutally murdered in Thakurganj last week, wears a deserted look.
Dildar Ali, the patriarch, lies on a hard bed in a room. The dejected mother Atrunnisa sits on a cot outside.
The other siblings of the deceased, Rehan, 20, Samiya, 15 and Arhan, 7, are subdued, with grief and fear about the future writ large on their faces. Rehan quit studies after Class 12 and looks after domestic chores while Samiya and Arhan study in Class 9 and 2 respectively in a government school.
A look at the parents is enough indication the pain of losing two grown-up, bread winner sons has not subsided even a week after their death.
“Imran asked me to keep some milk and rice for dinner. But he never returned,” says an inconsolable Atrunnisa, remembering the last conversation she had with her deceased son.
Shortly after leaving the house, the brothers were intercepted by a group of six men who thrashed them and then shot them dead.
The incident occurred in the middle of a busy road. People passed by but nobody helped.
Atrunnisa fainted when she heard about the incident.
Dildar Ali mustered courage and rushed to the spot, almost a kilometre from his house.
“Their faces were covered in blood but I recognised the clothes. I asked Allah to turn me blind so that I would not see the dead faces of my sons,” he recalls in a choked voice.
The racks in the wall behind him are full of shining ceramic cups, glasses and dinner plates. A brown refrigerator occupies a corner of the cement floored room.
The family was preparing for Imran’s marriage. “The marriage was scheduled for November 26. We had booked a marriage hall and started preparations, but destiny ordained otherwise ,” says Rafiq Ali, a relative.
The tragedy has also dealt a severe blow to the family finances. The family sustained on the earnings of the two brothers and by selling milk of three buffaloes.
But two of the buffaloes had to be sold to perform the last rites of the brothers.
The family has not yet cashed the ₹ 5 lakh cheque received as compensation from the state government, as a mark of protest. “The family was promised Rs 10 lakh. What will we do with this amount,” Rafiq says.
“I and my wife struggled to raise our children. We had hopes of a better life when my sons started earning. Our hopes have died with them,” says Dildar Ali.
“Our family has been pushed back by at least 15 years. I wonder if we will ever get over this grief,” he says.