13 funerals in 24 hrs leave Kushinagar town numb
KUSHINAGAR: Unlike the usual hustle and bustle, an eerie silence greeted commuters in Dudahi town of Kushinagar on Friday, a day after 13 children lost their lives when their school van rammed into a speeding train at an unmanned railway crossing.
Traders closed down their shops at 4 pm on Friday and gathered at Madarsa Tola, a small village in Dudahi, to take part in the funeral procession of Farhan Ali (10) and Kamran Ali (8).
This was the 13th funeral that Dudahi had witnessed in the last 24 hours. Families of other victims had performed the last rites on Thursday itself as the bodies were not in a condition to be preserved for another day.
“Our heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones. May Allah give them enough strength to bear this loss. We are with them in this hour of grief,” said Mohammed Shareef, who runs a juice shop in the village.
The procession, which started from Madarsa Tola after ‘namaz’ at 5 pm, was led by the children’s inconsolable father Haider Ali, who works as a driver with a firm in Saudi Arabia.
“I was initially told that they have sustained injuries while playing. When I reached my house, I saw their bodies wrapped in white cloth lying on ice slabs. I am shattered, my world is lost. I don’t have any reason to live and earn now,” said Ali.
His flight landed at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow at around 9 am after which he rushed to Kushinagar to see his sons.
“They were so innocent. What was their fault? They were only 8 and 10. Their mother is numb, she has not uttered a word since yesterday,” he said. The procession culminated at a graveyard, merely 150 metres away from the site of the accident. However, another shock was in store for the family when they proceeded for the children’s burial.
The family found that the children’s bodies were not even stitched after the autopsy.
Infuriated at the apathy, the family members and relatives staged a protest.
“The bodies of the children, even their scalps, were not stitched. This is like adding insult to injury. How can one be so insensitive?” said Salim Ali, grandfather of the children.
Moinuddin Ansari, another resident of the same village who also works in Saudi Arabia as a tailor, also lost two of his children – Miraj, 8, and Muskan, 6.
However, unlike Haider Ali, he could not reach the village to perform the last rites of his children.
“Since my husband left for Saudi only a week ago after spending 20 days in the village, his employer didn’t allow him to come back again,” said Salma Khatoon, the mother of Miraj and Muskan.
“It is tough for a mother to bear the loss of her children. I don’t have anyone by my side to share my grief. I am thankful to Allah that my youngest son Mehtab refused to go to school on the fateful day,” she added.
“Mehtab alighted from the school van at the last moment on the pretext of stomach ache,” Salma said.
The family of Amarjeet Kumar, the gram pradhan of Misrauli village in Dudhi, is also in a state of shock after losing three children – Ravi, 10, Anoop, 8, and Ragini, 3.
The family performed the last rites on Thursday as the bodies were badly mutilated.
“We were attending a marriage function when we got the news. I rushed to the hospital from where some insensitive officials guided me to the mortuary where I found all three children being readied for autopsy. The officers didn’t give me enough time to see my children one last time,” said Kiran, mother of the children.
Villagers said Amarjeet has lost his voice after the tragedy and is trying to recuperate from the state of shock.
A resident of Kushinagar said the incident reminded them of ice-candy tragedy on June 18, 2008, in which more than a dozen children died after consuming discarded ice candies (chuskis) dumped at a secluded place.
“Locals call it ‘the chuski kaand’. The then district magistrate was suspended after the incident. This is one of the worst tragedies for Kushinagar and the scars will remain forever,” he said.