Srinagar, Aug 11: “Oh my beloved son, how dare the troopers kill a tender soul like you. Didn’t they even have mercy of your cries and innocence? What crime had my son committed?” shouts Farida Begum, mother of nine-year old Sameer Ahmad Rah of Batamaloo here who was killed last week due to severe thrashing allegedly by the troopers of paramilitary CRPF.
Even after passing of eight days, his mother is yet to come out of the shock. She constantly gazes on the main door of her modest house as if waiting for Sameer’s return. Her husband, Fayaz Ahmad Rah, tries to console her but himself breaks down.
“I worked hard by undertaking petty jobs to finance Sameer’s education. I wanted to realize his dream of becoming a cricketer. With his killing, all my desires were shattered. I had to undergo an unbearable moment to shoulder his coffin,” Fayaz said and burst into tears. He instantly hugged and kissed his another son, Sarfaraz, who resembles Sameer.
Fayaz strongly refutes the claim of police that Sameer was killed in a stampede. Recounting the fateful day, Fayaz who earns his livelihood by selling traditional Kashmiri snacks on streets, said due to curfew he and Sameer were taking an afternoon nap in the house.
He said Sameer had requested Rs 5 for purchasing toffees but received only Rs 2. After few minutes, Sameer returned to his house asking for Rs 10 to purchase pears from a street vendor for the family.
“He gave us the pears and said he will leave for his cousin’s house at nearby Elaichi Bagh to play carom. I told him to go through lanes as curfew was in place. His mother gave him a pear and he left happily promising to return before evening,” he said.
After few minutes, Fayaz said people took to streets saying the troopers had killed a child. He telephoned his brother to inquire if Sameer had reached his house. But before Fayaz could say anything, his brother told him to take care of the children as a boy had been killed.
“I realized that Sameer had not reached there. But I could not dare to tell my brother that Sameer was out of the house fearing he will be worried,” he said. Without realizing even in his wildest imagination that the victim was his child, Fayaz says he rushed out. Some people told him that the police had taken the body to Police Control Room.
Fayaz said he heard some youth from adjoining localities saying that the boy’s head was smashed with a stick by the troopers in a lane without any provocation.
“They said after he fell down on the road, around seven troopers trampled his chest and continuously hit him with bamboo sticks till he fell unconscious. They further said the troopers tried to dump the body in nearby bushes. But after they were spotted by some youth, his body was bundled into a Gypsy and taken to PCR,” Fayaz said while quoting the eye-witnesses.
Fayez said he started to worry about Sameer’s welfare and called his friend who works in the PCR to identify the body. “He told me the description of the body resembled Sameer. He instantly asked me to come to PCR and even sent an ambulance so that I can reach there. I smelt trouble and controlling my emotions rushed to PCR. But the body had been sent to SMHS Hospital,” he said.
Shattered Fayaz along with his wife rushed to SMHS. “It was a shocking moment for us to see Sameer lying on bed with head injuries and bruised body. The doctors told me he was critical and there were bleak chances of his survival. When I touched his hand, it was cold. There was no heart beat and pulse. The doctors gave electric shocks to him saying it will bring him to consciousness. But I had realized that my son was already dead and the doctors were just buying time,” Fayaz said.
He said after taking directions on phone, the doctors finally declared Sameer dead in the evening. Within no time, he said hundreds of youth and teenagers shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans had thronged the hospital to take Sameer’s body with them.
“But I refused and tightly held Sameer’s body with my chest. The youth were very angry and wanted to take the body. I feared that the youth will clash with the troopers and there will be more casualties. I did not want more fathers to shoulder coffins of their sons. So I took the body to my house,” he said.
On way to home, Fayaz saw people fighting pitched battles with troopers to register their protest over Sameer’s killing. His house was flooded with mourners with most of them insisting to bury the boy in Martyrs Graveyard Eidgah.
“I requested the protesters to leave me alone for two minutes. I wept and kissed his body. But I could not control my emotions on seeing a piece of pear still in his mouth,” he said with tears in his eyes.
“What was the crime of my son? He was just walking on street,” Farida shouted.
Fayaz said the police added insult to their injury by stating in the FIR (93/2010) that Sameer was killed in a stampede.
An eyewitness, wishing anonymity, said that Sameer ran towards the road after being chased by dogs.
“The troopers hit his head hard and inserted a stick deep in his throat. They took turns to stand on his chest and kicked him as if he was a football. From his frail body, one could clearly see his ribs broken. He breathed his last on the spot,” he said.
Fayaz strongly refutes the police theory. “On the second day of my son’s killing, a senior police officer came to my house saying he had rebuked the troopers on seeing the body. Why have you killed the boy,” said Fayaz quoting the police officer.
“He (the police officer) had even assured me to register a case against the accused troopers and give me justice. But the police was trying to hush up the case. I will not sit until my son’s killers are brought to book. People of Batamaloo and adjoining areas have assured me support,” he said.
The Station House Officer of Batmaloo Police Station, Zahoor Ahmad, refuted the allegations of hushing up the case. “Investigations are on in the case. We will also be recording the statements of eyewitness in the case. Law will take its own course,” the SHO said.
Farida said Sameer, a student of Learning Point Institute, was an avid cricket fan. “Whenever there was a cricket match he would even forget to have food. He reacted to every shot and wicket as if he was himself playing,” she said while pointing to the place he used to sit in the room to watch the cricket matches.
As the shattered parents and two siblings, including a sister, regrouped for a photograph holding Sameer’s photograph, they could not control their emotions.
“The killer troopers have snatched part of my flesh, my son..,” an inconsolable Farida said leaving every eye there moist.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST