Many families kept hanging around the hospital mortuary hoping for news of relatives. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav)
Six days after riots broke out in Delhi, three bodies remain unidentified, with families claiming two of the dead at GTB Hospital on Saturday. For the first day, there was no rise in the death toll, which stands at 42.
With the hospital completing post-mortems of 11 on Saturday, six bodies now remain in the mortuary, including the three unidentified ones. The DNA sample of a fourth has been sent for testing since a family that came forward was not sure about his identity. Many families kept hanging around the hospital mortuary hoping for news of relatives.
Among those identified on Saturday was Prem Singh, a rickshaw-puller missing since Tuesday. As Singh’s elder brother Shyam Singh broke the news to the family waiting outside, their mother Natho Devi (60) broke down. “Mera beta kahan gaya, ek baar uski shakal dikha do. Teen din se teri maa tujhe dhoond rahi hai (Your mother is looking for you for the last three days. Where are you, my son? Just show me your face once),” howled Natho.
A native of Kasganj who lived in Brijpuri, Singh leaves behind three daughters and a seven-month pregnant wife. He earned Rs 100 a day from pulling a rickshaw. Shyam, who came from Kasganj in search of Singh, asked who would support his family now. “Who do we go and ask?”
The search also ended for Ram Sugarak (48), a rickshaw-puller, with his 15-year-old son Nitin Kumar turning up among the dead at the mortuary. A Class 9 student, Nitin was brought to the hospital with severe head injuries and died on February 27.
“I have lost my child. What am I left with?” asked Sugarak, who earns Rs 100-150 a day.
Across Northeast Delhi, residents tried to get life back on track, with several visiting their homes and shops in Mustafabad to take stock of the damage. In several areas, stores opened but briefly as shopkeepers ran out of stock. Locals accused some shops of hoarding essential items to sell them at a higher price given the demand.
The Gokalpuri and Maujpur main markets saw some hustle and bustle, with most shops open except those that burnt down.
Security forces continue to be deployed in Mustafabad, Shiv Vihar and some other areas.
“We have registered 167 FIRs and arrested or detained 885 people in connection with the violence. A total of 36 cases have been registered under the Arms Act. Thirteen FIRs have been also registered against accounts operating from different platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc and posting provocative content. Several social media accounts and web links involved in circulation of unlawful, offensive content have been suspended/removed through concerned platforms,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Mandeep Singh Randhawa.