When 42-year-old R. Gopinath came back home, his two-year-old son ran towards him crying and asking to see his grandmother Rukmani. Until Tuesday evening, the woman was playing with her grandchildren in her house in Pallavaram. But on Wednesday morning, she was lynched by a mob in Athimoor village who mistook her for a kidnapper.
“She was very fond of children. It is so ironic that the mob had mistaken such a woman for a kidnapper,” said Mr. Gopinath with tears in his eyes. At his house on Eswaran Koil Street in Old Pallavaram, with his children close to him, he narrated what he had heard about the incident.
He said that on Wednesday around 4 a.m., Rukmani had left for Athimoor village. “Her son-in-law Gajendran, brother-in-law Venkatesan also joined her. They wanted to show their family deity temple to two relatives — Chandrasekharan and Mohankumar — who had come from Malaysia,” said Mr. Gopinath, who works as a contract labourer at the Chennai aiport.
“Around 11 a.m., she called me and said she had her breakfast and was on the way to the temple. However, after some time, I got a call from my sister Padmavathi that she had been killed. The others were injured badly and admitted to hospitals in Vellore,” he added.
He said that Mr. Gajendran was driving the car. “They were confused about the route. Hence they stopped to ask villagers. When they stopped at the third place, my mother saw some children playing. Following this the villagers started shouting at them. They tried to drive away, but were surrounded by a mob carrying iron rods which assaulted them,” he said.
Mr. Gopinath added that it was painful to the see the video of his mother being assaulted. “She never thought harm to anyone. It’s sad that she had to meet such an end,” he added.
For his family, the loss is irreparable. “Such an incident should not happen to anyone. The judicial system should award maximum punishment to the attackers and rumour mongers,” he said.
