Clad in a burkha, sitting outside the emergency block of Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, Mumtaz refuses to cry for her 77-year-old father, who died of injuries he sustained in the Delhi High Court blast on Wednesday morning.
“Terrorism makes no sense; all that these mischievous elements want to do is to spread fear, distrust and confusion among people. I am a strong woman and I will not cry and let them know that they have succeeded in their mission. The blast has shaken me and I am frightened but I believe that there will be justice at the end of it all,” said Mumtaz.
“God is angry with us”
“My father who lives in Meerut had come to get an appeal for bail for my eldest son, who has been in the Tihar Jail for the past two years on charges of murder. He, along with my younger son, had gone to the Delhi High Court when the blast occurred; my eldest son called us and said that while his grandfather died, his younger brother was taken to the AIIMS for treatment. The family has been fighting for the release of my son and now I have lost my father to the blast, God seems to be angry with our family. I am now sitting here waiting for the police to release the body of my father,” she added.
Not just for Mumtaz, death's cold fingers touched the lives of many families across the Capital on Wednesday morning. For the family members of 19-year-old Amanpreet Singh Jolly, the news about the death of their son angered and shocked them.
“Amanpreet, a student of law, had gone to the court as usual for work and sometime later we got a call from his driver saying that there had been a blast and that Amanpreet had not returned. His father rushed to the site only to find out that his son was dead,” said Jasleen Kaur, Amanpreet's cousin.
“Terrorism affects the lives of the common man, today we lost Amanpreet and we grieve for him but this isn't the end and the government has to ensure that the people of the country live in security and peace,” she added.
“I heard a loud blast and there was utter confusion after that,” said Khurshid, who was injured in the blast and is under treatment at the RML hospital. “For most of the people who were standing at reception waiting for the entry slip it was just another day and now we are here at the hospital fighting for our lives. Today we have seen the ugly face of terrorism and understand that these people just want to spread unrest. Most of the common people coming to the High Court come here expecting justice, but this incident has shocked and frightened us.”
Rashida, whose four injured family members are undergoing treatment at the RML Hospital, said: “We got the news about the blast when one of our family members called to say that there has been a blast and that they all were injured. Doctors have told us that they are all stable and are doing well. The shock of knowing that the family members were injured in a blast and that they could have died is too much to live with. Delhi has become an unsafe place for the common man.”