Curb celebratory firing, says father

NEW DELHI: Shyam Sunder Kausal, the man who lost his daughter to a stray bullet during celebratory firing three months ago, said the incident should be a wake-up

NEW DELHI: Shyam Sunder Kausal, the man who lost his daughter to a stray bullet during celebratory firing three months ago, said the incident should be a wake-up call to authorities.

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Kausal, who runs a tea stall near his home in Mangolpuri, said such incidents could happen to anybody if the practice of celebratory firing was not stopped.

His earnings barely meet the needs of his family of two daughters and a wife but he is bent on changing the status quo that led to the death of his daughter.

With help from friends and family and advocate Akash Vajpai, he filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court, seeking stringent guidelines to curb the practice of celebratory firing.

Taking note of his plea, the high court in May sought a response from the centre and the city government. The case is listed for hearing in August.

“Main to bahut toot chukka tha (I was broken). Magar mujhe crime branch se umeedh hai (I have hope in the crime branch),” he told HT after coming out of the courtroom. The high court had just ordered the probe in the case to be transferred to the crime branch.

Kausal said he was happy with the high court order and was looking forward to the crime branch bringing the real culprit to justice.

He described Anjali, his deceased daughter, as a bright student and said she was expecting good results in her Class XII exams that she had written just before her death. “Usko teacher bannaa tha (she wanted to be a teacher),” Kaushal said, adding that Anjali used to teach her younger sisters too.

He said his focus now would be on the PIL. “Logon main awareness lana hai, taki joh mere beti ke saath hua woh kisi au rke saath na ho (Need to create awareness, so that we could prevent others from similar fate like my daughter),” he said.

He, along with his advocate Vajpai, made suggestions in his plea, which he says may ensure the practice was curbed. Amongst others, it says that a new law prohibiting arms in marriage should be brought in.