BARPETA, Dec 10 - Till December 12 last year, Lal Mamud and his family had been living a fairly pleasant life. But, that fateful day, when the anti-CAA protest was at its peak across the State, changed everything.
Their only son, Abdul Alim, received a bullet injury when police opened fire in Lalungaon area of the city. Abdul died on December 15 at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
�My wife has been keeping ill that day onwards. I�ve spent a huge amount of money on her treatment. Now, though she�s physically fit, her psychological condition is not stable. Often, she suddenly turns aggressive and hurls abuses at us. With the death of Abdul, our family has lost all happiness,� Abdul�s father Mamud, a resident of Holongbari village in Barpeta district, told The Assam Tribune.
The 23-year-old was working in a pharmacy in the Katakipara locality of Lalungaon area.
Mamud said his son was not involved in any anti-CAA protest. Rather, that day he was on his way back to his rented accommodation after closing the pharmacy, as the law and order situation had deteriorated by then due to the protest.
During a visit to their residence, this correspondent was told that Abdul�s younger sister, Beauty Parbin, is also suffering from a serious hearing impairment. She is going to appear in the High School Leaving Certificate examination next year.
�After the death of her elder brother, she cried a lot for many days and as a consequence her eardrum got affected. I took her to several ENT specialists, but she is yet to recover from the problem.�
�After my son�s death, several personalities, including leaders of opposition parties, came to our residence and provided some financial help. But, all that money got spent in the treatment of my wife and my daughter,� Mamud said.
He added that in Guwahati, he faced immense difficulties in getting the post-mortem report and the death certificate of his son.
�Initially, police did not respond to me. Rather, some senior police officials questioned me a lot as to how my son had got involved in the movement. A police officer even asked me about the number of youths who had come from Barpeta to Guwahati to take part in the protest that day.
�Police also registered a case against my son. Later, I, too, filed a case seeking justice. After a few days, somehow, I managed to get the post-mortem report and the death certificate but not before making a number of trips to different offices of the city,� he lamented.
Meanwhile, Abdul�s mother said her husband had been a successful farmer of the locality, but he gave up farming after Abdul�s demise.
�My husband became weak both mentally and physically after our son�s death. As a result, we are now suffering from extreme financial hardship,� Khatun said.
