Hathras families mourn the loss of their young

Hathras (UP): Satyendra Yadav was walking towards his vehicle after the ‘satsang’ when his wife called -- their three-year-old son Chhota had died in the stampede that had broken out moments earlier.

The 29-year-old driver from Delhi had reached here with his family, including his mother and two sisters-in-law. Just before the programme ended, Yadav, along with his mother and elder son, Mayank (4), started walking towards his vehicle, a three-wheeler loader.

“As we reached my vehicle, I got a call from my wife...she said, ‘Pilua thaane aa jaao, Chhota khatam ho gayaa hai’ (Come to the Pilua Police Station, Chhota is no more),” Yadav said.

The three-year-old son of Yadav, Rovin, was affectionately called as Chhota by his family. He was among the 121 people, who died in the stampede here on Tuesday.

Like Rovin, there are more families who lost their children in the tragic incident.

For the brother-sister duo Kaavya (3) and Ayush (9), the bus journey from Jaipur, Rajasthan, on Monday evening to the event venue here proved to be their last.

Both the grieving families said they never imagined that such an incident would take place at a religious gathering.

Yadav said he, along with his wife, their two sons and his wife’s two sisters, had left Delhi on Monday night at around 11 pm and reached here by 5.30 am (on Tuesday). His mother had reached the event from their village in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, separately.

“It is indeed very devastating for me and my family,” Yadav, who performed the last rites of his son in his village on Tuesday night, said.

Recalling some of the scenes from the stampede, he said, “I do not remember anything about the commotion that took place. Later on, I saw some people carrying a woman somewhere. I thought that she might have fainted (due to the weather), and hence she would be given medical treatment. I had not seriously thought about the incident.”

“Then, I got a call from my wife. My voice was reaching her, but I could not hear what she was saying. So, I told her to come to the place where I had parked my vehicle,” he said.

Sometime later, when he got another call from her, she, along with her sisters, was at the Pilua Police Station (in Etah) and informed him about Rovin’s death, Yadav said, adding that he then informed his brother, who subsequently informed their father.

Later, a large number of people from Yadav’s village, including the village pradhan, reached the spot, he said.

Meanwhile, Ramlakhan, who was accompanying his brother-in-law and the father of the deceased siblings -- Kaavya and Ayush -- Anad, to Shahjahanpur in a bus, said that he has yet not given the tragic news to him, fearing it would shock him.

“I came to know about the tragic incident around 5 pm. They (Kaavya and Ayush) had gone to the ‘satsang’ along with my wife, who is their paternal aunt,” Ramlakhan said.