It’s time police paid for my suffering: Bus conductor

Ashok Kumar, who was falsely accused of murdering the class 2 student in a private school of Gurgaon by the police, says the torture still haunts him and he is unable to sleep at night. Kumar has been unable to find a job since he was released from prison in November 2017

The chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday may have left the families of the victim and the accused dissatisfied, but Ashok Kumar, the private school’s former bus conductor who was first accused of murdering the eight-year-old student by the police, is a happy man.

Forty-two-year-old Ashok Kumar was incorrectly accused of murdering the eight-year-old student of a private school by the Gurgaon police, who claimed Kumar ’confessed’ to the crime. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

Incorrectly accused of murder by the Gurgaon police that even claimed he “confessed” to the crime, the 42-year-old, had to overcome many obstacles in his fight for freedom and truth—the first among them being shunned by the Gurgaon and Sohna bar associations.

Later, a lawyer from Rohtak came forward to support Kumar and help him prove his innocence.

Mohit Verma, lawyer for the conductor, said, “Somehow, I always believed that Ashok was innocent and, now, this has become even more evident in the chargesheet filed by the CBI.”

Although the CBI, in its chargesheet, did not charge any official of the Gurgaon police in the case, the agency did not mince its words while describing the role played by the police in framing Kumar.

“According to the report filed by the CBI, my client was neither involved (in the murder) nor did they find any evidence against him in the Gurgaon private school murder case. Therefore, my next step is to make arguments on the charges of my client on February 12, and make sure he walks out free, with respect.”

The Gurgaon police arrested Kumar within hours of the murder, after which he stayed locked up in the Bhondsi jail till the court released him after the CBI apprehended the juvenile accused for the murder on November 8 last year. Upon his release, Kumar had said he was tortured by the police while he was in custody.

Kumar was happy after he learned that the CBI has given him a clean chit in its chargesheet presented on Monday, and he thanked God for it. But Kumar is all but free from his past and the horrors of his unjust arrest.

“I cannot forgive, nor forget, what the Gurgaon police officials have done to me. The torture still haunts and I am unable to sleep at night. Whenever I see anyone in a police uniform, I still get scared and try to hide,” Kumar said.

However, there are more immediate struggles that scare Kumar now. Unable to get a job, he has been struggling to earn a living.

Kumar’s wife Mamata said, “Everyone has seen him (on the TV) and knows about the (murder) case. Even after a clean chit, our life remains affected. No one is ready to give him a job, and this is the Gurgaon police’s doing. He is now planning to sell vegetables (to earn a living).”

The former bus conductor said he is pinning his hopes on legal and divine justice, and wants the officials who framed him to be put behind the bars.

“My lawyer will file a defamation case against the police, and now they will have a tough time,” Kumar said.