March in solidarity with victim's family

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 24

Cutting across religion, region and political barriers, citizens of Shimla today took out a candle march from Deputy Commissioner’s Office via Naaz to The Ridge expressing their solidarity with the bereaved family over the brutal killing of four-year-old Yug. Public outcry over the killing was visible on the faces of residents who still can’t believe that such a merciless killing of an innocent child for ransom could happen in Shimla as the town has no precedent of such a heinous crime. Braving rain and carrying photographs of Yug, the protesters demanded capital punishment for the three accused.

Youth and women in large numbers participated in the march. When the family members of Yug expressed their gratitude, some of the women protesters, failing to keep their emotions under check, started crying.

The social media is abuzz with condolence messages and a debate is going in the virtual world that what should be the appropriate punishment for the accused. A large number of people were of the view that the punishment should be exemplary to ensure that such a heinous crime is not repeated.

President of Veopar Mandal Shimla Inderjeet Singh demanded justice for Yug and his family. He said that they had decided to isolate the families of Chander Sharma and Tajender Singh, who also run shops in Ram Bazaar and belonged to the business community. The district unit of the BJP led by vice president Rajiv Sood lodged their protest against the gruesome killing, the role of police and the failure of Municipal Corporation to ensure cleanliness of water tanks.

Activists of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) unit of the ABVP also took out a candle march from the Vice Chancellor’s office to Summer Hill Chowk protesting against the killing and raised questions on the working of police and the Shimla MC. The CPM demanded hanging of the three accused and action against the erring officials of the MC who were entrusted with the responsibility of cleaning the water tanks from where the skeleton was recovered.

Political parties have started the blame game over the cleanliness of water tank manned by the Municipal Corporation. The killing of the innocent child and plea for justice and police inaction took a back seat during the political rallies as protests focused on the inefficiency of the MC. (The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation are from the CPM). On their part, the CPM leaders attacked the municipal employees, who clean the tank.