Infant dies after catching cold, mother returns to protest

NEW DELHI: Four-month-old Mohammed Jahaan accompanied his mother almost every day to the Shaheen Bagh demonstration where he was a favourite with the protesters who would take turns to hold him and often draw the Tricolour on his cheeks.

Jahaan will not be seen at Shaheen Bagh anymore.

He died last week after acquiring a severe cold and congestion following exposure to the winter chill at the outdoor demonstration. His mother is, however, undeterred and determined to participate in the protests, saying it is “for the future of my children”.

The infant’s shattered parents, Mohammed Arif and Nazia, live in a tiny shanty put together with plastic sheets and cloth in Batla House area and have two other children — a fiveyear-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Hailing from Bareilly in UP, the couple is barely able to make ends meet. Arif is an embroidery worker and also drives an e-rickshaw. His wife helps him in his embroidery work.

“I haven’t been able to earn enough in the last month despite driving the battery rickshaw in addition to my embroidery work. Now with our baby’s demise, we have lost everything,” he said, showing a picture of little Jahaan wearing a woolen cap that read ‘I Love My India’. A visibly disturbed Nazia said Jahaan passed away in his sleep on night of January 30 after returning from the protests.

“I had returned from Shaheen Baag at around 1 am. After putting him and other kids to sleep, even I went to sleep. In the morning, I suddenly found him motionless,” she said. The couple said they took him to a nearby hospital on January 31 morning where he was declared dead.