Pulwama martyr’s family battles money woes
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
Jaipur, April 23
Away from the heat and dust of the Lok Sabha electioneering, 70-year-old Geeshi Devi is still in mourning. Every time BJP leaders flag the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in their poll campaign, Geeshi Devi’s heart misses a beat.
Her elder son Rohitaash Lamba was among the 44 CRPF men killed in Pulwama. She says she would have reconciled with the tragedy but for the rift the money awarded in the memory of her martyred son has created in her once a happy home.
Only two days back Geeshi Devi was forced to leave her own home after days of bickering in the family over who gets to keep the crores in cash that flowed after Rohitaash departed.
“My sister deserved better. She has lost her son. She doesn’t want any money. All she needs is her peace of mind. Rohitaash’s wife has decided to keep all the money and refuses to make peace with her parents-in-law. She wants them out of her life. We are most worried about Rohitaash’s three-month-old daughter, who is not getting the attention she deserves,” says Harphool Singh, Rohitaash’s maternal uncle, who is now sheltering his sister Geeshi Devi.
Compensation money that came after the death of Pulwama martyr has led to consternation in several families, says Harphool who flags the need for the government to make rules that protect the parents of martyrs and also the martyrs’ wards.
In the case of Rohitaash Lamba who belonged to Govindpura village of Jaipur rural parliamentary segment, the local panchayat decided that compensation and government money that came in the name of the martyr’s wife be kept safely in ways that Lamba’s three-month-old daughter could benefit from the award once she grows up.
“The panchayat said the money be put in the name of my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter and my husband be made the nominee in the case of the child. Everyone was concerned how the money would otherwise be protected till the child turns an adult. But Rohitaash’s wife didn’t agree.
“Money has caused a major rift in my family and I’ve been forced out of my own home. I just want my peace of mind back and also appeal to the government to look at these problems arising after we sacrifice our children for national security,” Geeshi Devi told The Tribune at her brother’s house in Buranpura village in Jaipur.
The martyr’s wife has her own worries and refuses to budge. Clouded by concerns around how the money might be misused, she says she wants to keep all of it in her name.
As the family battles money woes, Geeshi Devi says she doesn’t one bit regret sending her son to defend the country. “Desh par sau Rohitaash kurban. Uska koi dukh nahi. Dukh toh yeh hai ki ab mai is ghar mein bhi nahi reh paa rahi jahaan mera beta khel kud ke bada hua aur desh sewa mein gaya. Mujhe bas chain se apne ghar mein jeena marnaa hai. Sarkar itna karva de bas (I have no regret that I lost my son. I can sacrifice hundred sons in the defence of the nation. What I regret is I have had to leave my own home due to problems being posed by money. I just want to live and die in my own home. I urge the government to help me get back home peacefully),” she said.
The segment is witnessing a direct fight between minister and BJP nominee Rajyavardhan Rathore and Congress candidate Krishna Poonia.
‘I want to just live and die in my home’
Amid the peaking Lok Sabha campaign in Rajasthan, martyr Rohitaash Lamba’s mother Geeshi Devi (R) urges the government to help her stay in her home peacefully as she has been forced out of her own house following a rift over relief money that came after Rohitaash’s death. She says she doesn’t regret sending her son to defend the country but regrets that she had to leave her own home due to problems posed by money.
