A mother's quest for justice for dead son

Lucknow: It has been more than a week and the distraught mother is frantically going from door to door in quest of justice. Her 32-year-old son Hemant Gupta a.k.a. Raju was brutally beaten to death in front of her eyes by the Agra police.

Subsequently, the entire Sikandara police station, including the inspector Rishi Pal and two sub inspectors, Anuj Sirohi and Tejveer Singh, was suspended and booked for murder but the matter has ended there.

“My son was mentally challenged with an IQ of a five-year-old. My neighbors accused him of stealing jewellery worth Rs 7 lakhs and the cops picked him up on November 21 afternoon. The neighbors are related to a BJP MLA,” said the mother Reenu.

The mother and son were living together in a rented house, while Reenu’s two married daughters live in Vrindavan and Delhi. Raju was working as a helper at a neighbouring chemist shop.

Soon after taken into custody, Raju was allegedly thrashed and lathi-charged in the lock-up in front of his mother, while she helplessly pleaded for mercy.

Later the mother was sent back while Raju remained in police custody “Around 9.p.m I was informed that my son had died,” she said.

On November 23, a post-mortem of Raju’s body was conducted and was videographed by the police. The autopsy report revealed that his death was caused due to a my-ocardial infarction (heart attack) and minor injuries on the shoulder, arms and legs were reported.

According to SSP Agra Amit Pathak a case has also been filed against the neighbours, Anshul Pratap Singh and Vivek,  who reportedly assaulted Raju before handing him over to the police. The neighbours, incidentally, are now absconding.

“Cases have been lodged against the guilty cops and investigations are on,” the SSP said. The police official said that action would be taken as soon as investigations are complete.

The widowed mother has not been given any compensation or assurance in the matter.

Surprisingly, the human rights activists in Agra have turned a blind eye to this case but in Lucknow, when contacted, the State Human Rights Commission, assured that it would take cognizance of the matter.

A senior police official in Lucknow said, on condition of anonymity, that , “The entire police station has been suspended and the matter is under investigation. We will have to wait for the probe to end before we take further action.”

Surprisingly, the human rights activists in Agra have turned a blind eye to this case but in Lucknow, when contacted, the State Human Rights Commission, assured that it would take cognizance of the matter.

The widowed mother has not been given any compensation or assurance in the matter.

“I want justice for my son who was incapable of doing what he was accused of. I cannot travel to Lucknow to meet the chief minister but I want him to take note of my plight and give me justice. I want the guilty cops to be hanged,” she said.