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Nithari: No closure for parents of missing children
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January 10, 2007 13:21 IST
Last Updated: January 10, 2007 20:35 IST

Parents of missing children continue to stream into Nithari village adjoining Noida almost two weeks after the serial killings of children and women came to light.

People in the search of their missing children are coming in from as far as Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar.

A control room set up by the local police in Noida on Sunday has so far received 273 applications.

"Parents are thronging the camp with the photos of their missing children. We are taking their applications, which will be forwarded to their respective police stations," a senior police official told PTI in Noida.

However, the agony continues for parents, as complete skeletal remains are yet to be recovered and they are groping in the dark on what next.

Some of these parents were shown the footwear and clothes recovered from the drain behind the D-5, Sector 31 residence of one of the two main suspects in the killings Moninder Singh Pandher and they had identified the articles as those of their children.

But even a fortnight after the recovery, there is no word from the government yet on compensation for these families and status of the investigation.

"There are several such cases in which people have identified their children's clothes and chappals. But their cases have not been registered," Kumar said.

"I recognised the chappal shown to me by the police but after that the police refused to record my statement and merely told me that they will contact me later. I am still waiting," said Nagendra Yadav, whose 12-year-old son Umesh Kumar went missing two years ago.

Yadav said he has also given four copies of his son's photograph to the police.

Umesh was a class seven student of Kanchan Public School in Nithari.

The stories of the Brijendra and Vimla Sarkar are also similar. While Brijendra lost his four-and-a-half-year-old daughter Soni, Vimla is looking for her seven-year-old son Rinku.

Vimla identified the clothes of her son among the remains recovered. "I had bought him that dress on Kali Puja last year," she said with tears in her eyes.

Meanwhile Padmini Kumar, a resident of Nithari, is collecting the details of such parents and is planning to approach senior police officials.

Among the parents is Chandu Chauhan, a resident of Ghaziabad, whose two sons went missing together two years ago and who has since been frantically searching for them.

"My sons were 12 and 9 years old respectively. Both went missing on the same day from outside my residence," he said.

Suboth Pal, a resident of Okhla Phase I in south Delhi, was in Noida praying that his teenaged son Rakesh Pal, who went missing 18 months ago, was not among the victims of the grisly killings.

"My son was 18 when he went missing. I have been searching for him ever since," he said.

But the local police are in a dilemma as they cannot do much about the complaints.

"What can we do. The parents have already registered FIRs with the respective police stations, but they still believe that we would be able to do something for them," he said. 

The official also said the compensation of Rs 10 lakh was an attraction for some people.

"They are being misguided by local politicians and some vested interests about getting money in case they lodge their complaint in Nithari," said the official.

A havan was organised by the All India Hindu Mahasabha in memory of the victims in Nithari village, seeking holy intervention for punishment to the perpetrators of the crime.

Some family members of the victims also attended the havan.

Children from a school in Ghaziabad came to the spot accompanied by their teachers, demanding justice for the victims.

The children, from Bhrigunath Junior High School, Ghaziabad, were holding placards that read 'Why is CBI not coming to Nithari', 'We Want Justice' and 'Punish the Guilty'.

"We want the grown-ups to ensure that children are safe," said Ranjan Singh, a Class V student.




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