Newborn comes as ray of hope for survivor

The last one year has been a real struggle for Subiya, who found herself in the middle of dead bodies of 14 relatives in their Thane home a year ago, all of them attacked by her brother with a cleaver.

What gave her the strength to fight the horrific memories and emerge a true survivor through the year was the child she was carrying. Subiya delivered a girl child three days ago at a hospital in Bhiwandi, giving the scarred family a reason to smile. “We have mustered the courage to move on, but the scars remain.

Subiya used to get nightmares, but now she has gotten better. She comestokasarwadavli,butnever ever goes in the house, which saw the bloodshed,” said Mujib Warekar a relative of Subiya.

“We ensure we don’t mention the incident. We have also asked neighbours to refrain from talking about the massacre in front of her,” he said.

Mujib said, “The child gave us a reason to smile after almost a year. We have been consulting doctor for smallest of problems.”

Family members recall the time after the gruesome incident.

“We were blank. Children in the house kept asking us about their cousins who were killed. We had no answers. We had to keep diverting the topic.”

Another family member said, “We have been cleaning the house. We plan to donate a part of it with Subiya’s permission. The other part will be given on rent.”

Rizwan Warekar, Subiya’s uncle, said, “All we want is Subiya’s happiness. We cannot forget the incident, but we have moved on.”