The Indian Express : Dec 21, 2019, 03:21 PM
Lucknow: “I told him to get ration. Groceries were almost over and there was a curfew-like situation,” says Shabeena (28), whose husband Mohammad Wakeel (32) died on Thursday of a bullet injury during the violence in Lucknow’s Aminabad area. Shabeena and Wakeel married on November 4 last year.Local residents have gathered outside Wakeel’s house in Daulatganj area of Thakurganj. Aslam, Wakeel’s neighbour, says Wakeel plied an auto-rickshaw that he had rented from someone. “His father Sarfuddin is a mason and the family has been living in the area for many years.”Wakeel’s mother Nagma says Wakeel was not out to protest, but had gone to buy groceries and medicines after there were rumours that curfew will be imposed.Wakeel, the eldest among siblings, has four brothers and three sisters — two sisters are married.His 18-year-old brother Shameem says, “We got to know around 5 pm that he was shot. We don’t know who shot him. When we rushed to the hospital, we were told he is dead,” says Shameem. “We are still figuring out if the police and administration will allow the body to be brought to the house before it can be taken to the graveyard.”Outside the mortuary where the post-mortem was done sits Wakeel’s friend Sameer Khan (28), waiting for officials to hand over the body. “Someone had called me to ask if I know a person named Wakeel. He told me that Wakeel is being taken to KGMU. I rushed to the hospital, but when I reached, doctors said he is no more,” says Sameer.Around 4 km from Wakeel’s home, three patients, including a minor, are battling for their life at the KGMU trauma centre.Sitting near an unconscious Shameem, his mother Shadiya cannot stop crying. She just says her son is innocent and was “at the wrong place at the wrong time”.Shameem (18) has suffered a gunshot injury in his abdomen. Doctors at KGMU trauma centre said that though they have operated on him, he is not out of danger yet. “On Thursday, he was on a construction site and around 4.30 pm, his boss asked him to go have his lunch. He was coming back home, around half-a-km away, when he saw a police team coming. When he spotted a group of civilians on the other side, he tried to run but a bullet hit his abdomen from the back. No one helped him,” says Shameem’s father Waseem, who plies a tempo.At KGMU, Rani Khatoon (41), the mother of 15-year-old Mohammad Jeelani, is pressing his legs. “He left home around 2.30 pm and was going to his maternal grandmother’s house in Khadra when was stuck in the violence,” she says.“He was operated and doctors are saying he is still critical,” says his aunt Reshma Khatoon.