Nithari parents have fingers crossed

Auto-driver Anil Halder, whose daughter 14-year-old daughter Rimpa was allegedly murdered and raped around four years ago at Nithari in Noida, has been waiting and praying for justice since then, reports Kapil Datta.

Auto-driver Anil Halder, whose daughter 14-year-old daughter Rimpa was allegedly murdered and raped around four years ago at Nithari in Noida, has been waiting and praying for justice since then.

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“I am praying that Surendra Koli who killed my daughter gets a death conviction. His employer Moninder Singh Pandher, the co-accused, must at least get a lifer,” said Halder, his eyes dry but red. Anil's family, including Rimpa's two brothers, stay in a one-room flat at Nithari.

For Halder, the struggle to get justice for his dear daughter has been a long and occasionally frustrating one. He admitted to have spent “Rs. 2.5 lakh” from his meager earnings over legal and other overheads in the process.

Halder is quietly hopeful. “Pandher has a battery of around 10 advocates to defend him and the CBI that is bent on saving him too had four lawyers. I had just one advocate to defend our case but I have faith in my lawyer that he will get us justice.”

He added, “Though the CBI tried to give a clean chit to M.S. Pandher and made Surinder Koli the accused, I have full faith in the CBI court and feel that they will both get punished.” In case “Pandher gets spared”, he vowed, “I will move the High Court and later even the Supreme Court to get justice for my daughter.”

He claimed Pandher and Koli had confessed at the police station before them soon after the recovery of skulls from the D-5 house.

Parents of other Nithari victims too are anxiously waiting to know if Pandher will get his due. Building material supplier Ashok Kumar, the father of another Nithari victim Max alias Satinder, told HT, “We don’t expect Pandher to be punished in the Rimpa case, we have lost faith in the CBI.” He added, “If Pandher gets spared, he should be handed over to us and we will treat him the way victims were treated in his bungalow.”

Housewife Laxmi Devi, mother of Nithari victim Rachna, said, “Pandher might get spared. We are poor and can't defend our case. The rich have the power to get away.”