At their one-room jhuggi behind Kishore market across Gate no 4 of GTB Nagar Metro station, Ravindra Kumar’s wife Reena sleeps on the floor, refusing to talk to anyone. She is a few months pregnant. The couple had celebrated their first anniversary just two weeks ago. “They’ve been married for a year… Everything is gone now. We haven’t even made their wedding album yet,” says Sushila, Kumar’s mother. Sitting outside the jhuggi, Kumar’s father, a retired Delhi Police constable, holds his son’s picture in his shaking hands. He said Kumar came home for lunch on Saturday but did not tell anyone about the altercation with the two men.
“We could have helped him and averted the incident… Why was he killed? For promoting our Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan?” he asks. Kumar’s brother, Vijender, who was with his brother minutes after the incident, says, “They beat him like animals… My brother did not want to go the hospital so we returned midway. I did not understand how much pain he was in… he didn’t tell me either,” he says. On Sunday evening, Kumar’s friends gather near the GTB Nagar Metro station and talk about how he was good at managing passengers and traffic.
Echoing the drivers, ASI Rambilas of Delhi Traffic Police said, “We challaned many e-rickshaw drivers for not following traffic rules. But Kumar made sure that there was no traffic issues due to e-rickshaw movement.” Anish, an e-rickshaw driver, says even Kumar had rebuked them too for urinating in the open. “It was due to his efforts that drivers quit urinating in the open and started using the public toilet,” he adds.
No comments:
Post a Comment