Afzal case: Victims families to return Ashok Chakra

October 6, 2006

Lucknow: The family of CRPF jawan Kamlesh Kumari, who was martyred in the attack on Parliament in 2001, has threatened to return the Ashok Chakra awarded to Kamlesh posthumously if President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam accepts the mercy appeal of Mohammed Afzal Guru, the Parliament attack convict.

�If Afzal Guru is granted amnesty by the President, we will return the Ashok Chakra awarded to our mother for her bravery. There will be no point in keeping the award if those responsible for her death are shown mercy,� said Jyoti, the elder daughter of Kamlesh.

Kamlesh Kumari was posted at the gate of Parliament and was the first security personnel who tried to stop the terrorists from entering. She was shot dead by the ultras, who sprayed her with 12 bullets. It was Kamlesh's alarm that alerted other security personnel who finally thwarted the attack on Parliament.

She was posthumously conferred the Ashok Chakra � the highest civilian award for bravery � in January 2002. Her daughters, Jyoti and Shweta, live with their maternal grandparents in Narainpur village in Farukkhabad. Jyoti is a student of Class 10 in Kendriya Vidyalaya in Fatehgarh and Shweta is a student of Class 2 in the same school. Kamlesh's husband, Awadesh Kumar, lives in Kannauj district where he manages a petrol pump.

�We lost our mother because she tried to protect Parliament. Had she not alerted the security personnel in time, the terrorists would have probably managed to enter Parliament. Can anyone imagine the consequences if the terrorists had managed to get inside? Would these people still be clamouring for mercy for Afzal Guru?� she asked rather indignantly while talking to reporters in her house on Thursday.

The sisters are particularly angry with Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who first raised the demand for clemency for Afzal. �Would he have pardoned such offenders if one of his own family members had been killed in a terrorist attack? Are these people demanding pardon for the convict only because it is politically right for their own state? Has anyone given a thought to the families of those who were killed in the attack?� she asked.

Her sister Shweta, meanwhile, says that she will never join the forces because her mother was killed because �she wore a uniform�. Kamlesh Kumari's father Rajaram, on the other hand, says that if Afzal escapes punishment, it would be a major victory for terrorist groups. �Pakistan is determined to hang Sarabjit Singh even though he has been falsely implicated for espionage but in India we are ready to pardon those who have been found guilty. If Afzal escapes the noose, which jawan will lay down his life for the country? What is the point of keeping the Ashok Chakra that was awarded posthumously to my daughter if her killers are being dealt with leniently?� Rajaram asked.

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