New Delhi, Dec 25: The distraught son of dead Delhi Police constable Subhash Chand Tomar today held the 'public' responsible for the death of his father.
Deepak Tomar, the 20-year-old son, told mediapersons at the Ram Manohar Lohi hospital: "The public is responsible for my father's death. He was hit, kicked and trampled upon when he fell. Can anybody return my father to me?"
The incident took place on Tilak Marg near India Gate on Sunday. Deepak says, he returned home from coaching class and switched on the TV, when he heard his father's name. He switched to other news channels, and every channel had his father's name.
For the family of Subhash Chand Tomar, the first TV report on him almost brought down their world.
As soon as he returned home from coaching class, Tomar's son Deepak (20) switched on the TV to catch the latest on the protests at India Gate. And then he heard his father's name. He thought he had heard it wrong, so he switched to another channel, then another. Every channel had his father's name.
"I was stunned. They said he had received serious injuries and that he was dead. I couldn't believe my ears. My father is posted in the North-east District and this protest was on in New Delhi. We had no idea that he would be deployed there for law and order duty. He had never even mentioned it,” Deepak said.
Deepak called the Karawal Nagar police station, where his father is posted, and spoke to one of his colleagues who asked him to rush to RML hospital.
“I immediately switched off the television. The headlines had it that my father was dead. I did not want my mother to see it. I told her I was going to hospital.
Just then, a car from the police station came to take us all to hospital.”
Doctors at the hospital said his father had also had a cardiac arrest and was on ventilator support. His condition was critical, they told the family.
Dead constable Subhash Chand's brother is also in Delhi Police. His brother said, I pray to God nobody should face death like my brother.
Subhash Chand Tomar originally hails from Meerut. The entire Delhi Police force has decided to donate a day's salary to the beareaved family, while the Home Ministry has announced a Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia.
Meanwhile, a protester named Anand is also battling for life in the same hospital. Says Dr Sunil Saxena, CMO, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital: "Anant is serious and is still in the ICU."
