Dinanagar terror attack: Relatives of victims ready to play new roles

DINANAGAR: A month after his father Des Raj, a home guard jawan, was killed by terrorists in Dinanagar town of Gurdaspur district, 22-year-old Jatinder Kumar joined the Punjab police on Wednesday as a constable. While wearing the police uniform, Jatinder said he had earlier tried to get into the Army, paramilitary and central police forces, but failed to do so."See how life has changed after the death of my father and I am into police services now," he said.
Des Raj's wife Sudesh Kumari wished her graduate daughter Alka also got some job. "We had several plans, including looking for a match for our daughter, but now I have to do it alone," she said.
Similar is the situation in the house of another home guard jawan Bodh Raj at Saidpur village. Bodh Raj's wife Sudesh Kumari has been appointed constable with the Punjab police but she is yet to hear about joining duty or undergoing training. "All these years, I have been a housewife and now I have been appointed as a police constable. But I will do my duty for the sake of my family and fulfill dreams of my husband," she said. A mother of two daughters and a son, Sudesh is nervous but not disheartened. "I have seen my husband performing duty, and I am mentally preparing myself to do the same," she said.
While pointing towards her new under-construction house, she said her husband had taken a loan of Rs 50,000 for the house. "Who knew he will never live in this house," she said, adding that with the government's help of Rs 10 lakh, she would build the house.
Both Des Raj and Bodh Raj, along with another home guard jawan Sukhdev Singh, had gone to Dinanagar police station to deposit their arms after completion of their duty when they were gunned down by terrorists.
The management of Kiran Medicare Hospital, which is adjacent to Dinanagar police station, is surprised that neither any police officer nor politician visited the hospital where a patient and an attendant were killed by the terrorists. "Bullets are still embedded in the walls of our hospital. One of our staff members, Lalit, showed exemplary courage by taking the patients to safe places and was hit by splinters, but no one ever came to us," said Dr Harkiran Wassan.