Hit by bullet, 15-yr-old injured girl to miss her Board exams

NEW DELHI: It seems like it was a long time ago but her wounds are fresh to remind her of her unfortunate encounter with a bullet says Shifa Parveen, a resident of Chand Bagh area. A 15-year-old Parveen was flying a kite with her brother on the terrace when out of nowhere a bullet hit her arm.

Her brother Ashraf Ahmed screamed when he saw blood spreading on Shifa's school uniform and ran to tell the elders of the house about the incident. There was complete mayhem in the Ahmed household as someone ran to get first aid, while others panicked and stood helpless. Too stunned to react Shifa froze for a couple of minutes. She saw her kite fall from the skies as she fell to the ground.

“I remember my entire family came running, they took me downstairs and made me lie down. I remember they were too scared to go out, they were talking about attacks and I could not understand anything at that moment but now I know what they were saying,” says Shifa on the phone. She has undergone one surgery and the doctors have said that the bullet in her left hand was shot from a distance which rules out any possibility of a small range gun.

But Shifa is determined to complete her board exams and not to stay in the hospital. If things could go her way Shifa would be home studying. She is scared of failing her annual examinations.

Her father Aslam said, “We knew people had burnt shops and were pelting stones and throwing acid. How could we step out in such a situation? We got a neighbour doctor to take out the bullet. Once the situation was better, we rushed her to the hospital.” Shifa was taken to the hospital after 36 hours of being shot. Shifa is one of the many victims of the Delhi riots. She did not participate in the riot, she was flying a kite.