E-Paper
A requiem for innocence
IT IS around 11. 30 AM on Saturday and the place is the lobby of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the first floor of Sir Sunder Lal Hospital in the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) of BHU.
IT IS around 11. 30 AM on Saturday and the place is the lobby of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the first floor of Sir Sunder Lal Hospital in the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) of BHU.
The mother and younger sister of Mohit, a victim of the deadly bomb blast, who was inside, were impatient and staring at the door of the ICU for his return without knowing that he had died at 10.30 AM.
Hardly 28-years-old, Seema, the mother of 10-year-old Mohit Verma who was seriously injured in the railway station blast, suddenly got up and left for the emergency ward on the ground floor to take care of her daughter, also a victim of the bomb blast.
Before going downstairs, Seema told the relatives that she would also go to a temple on the hospital’s premises to offer prayer to the Almighty.
Three-year -old Sheetal, along with other kids of the relatives, was also staring at the door of the ICU to have a glimpse of her bhaiya.
But they did not know that their beloved Mohit had succumbed to his injuries already at 10.30 AM. His father Ashok Kumar, despite knowing the fact, did not have the courage to speak to his wife about it. As soon as Seema left for the ground floor, Ashok sobbed and asked a relative to accompany her.
Soon, the 32-year-old Ashok broke down and said, ‘Meine kabhi kisi ka nuksan nahi kiya, mera to ek hi beta tha, akhir bhagwan hum se kyo naraz huye’ (He was my only son, I did not harm any one in my life, why God got angry with me).
Ashok is a resident of Chilhari village of Sadar Bazar in Buxar district of Bihar. He runs a small technical training school in Sadar Bazar there. Along with his wife, Seema and three children, Mohit (10), Chhoti (6) and Sheetal (3), he had come to Varanasi to attend a marriage.
After the function, the family was at the railway station on Tuesday evening when the devastating blast took place, causing severe injury to Mohit and Chhoti and partial pellet injury to Sheetal. Mohit was admitted to the ICU on Tuesday night with brain injury and after a neuro-surgical operation, he remained on life support machine (LSM) till 10.30 AM today.
A pall of gloom descended on the relatives and family members of Mohit assembled outside the ICU. The doctors were engaged in the process for a post mortem examination of the deceased’s body.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the twin bomb blasts had reached 15 today till the filing of this report.