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‘Das Baje
Din Tak Maarte Rahe’
Zaheera’s grandmother
Zareena Shahu, an eyewitness to the Best Bakery massacre, recounts the
horrors of the long night of March 1, 2002. Her version nails Zaheera’s
lies
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‘Haath
pair jod ke kahe humre kuch nahi kahibe...toh sab utrat gaye, aur
woH sab marat gaye’ |
Zareena Shahu, Zaheera’s
maternal grandmother, was one of the several persons who lived through
the night of terror at the Best Bakery. Two months after the incident,
she returned to her native village of Jhakiya in UP. She has little or
no idea of how the process of justice has been called into question by
the changing testimonies of her granddaughter.
Talking to TEHELKA, she describes how a a neighbourhood mob attacked the
bakery. She is unable to forget the moments leading up to the death of
her son Kausar Ali, thrown into the furnace by the mob. It is a death
that her granddaughter now claims never occurred. Kausar continues to
be listed as missing by police, though his wife Shahjehan has testified
that Zaheera had told her that she saw Kausar being thrown into a furnace.
The police have surprisingly not listed Zareena as one of the witnesses
in the case. The grandmother’s testimony clearly establishes Zaheera’s
lies.
TEHELKA:
Kab gayeen thein, Baroda, Best Bakery? (When did you go, Baroda,
Best Bakery?)
Zareena: Bituva ko dekhna. (To meet my son.)
TEHELKA: Jab wo kaand hua heh, jab aag lagaye heh, tab
vahin par thi aap? Us raat vahin par thein? (When the carnage took
place, were you there that night?)
Zareena: Haan, chhe baje raat ko. (Yes, at six in
the night.)
TEHELKA: Chhe baje raat ko aag lagaye heh unhone, aap
kahan thein us samay? (They set fire at six o’ clock. Where
were you at that time?)
Zareena: Upar rahi hein. (I was upstairs.)
TEHELKA: Toh kya hua, kaise kya hua tha. (So what
happened? How did it happen?)
Zareena: Abhin bahai deen, aur kab hua, aggiya mein. (Immediately
they threw him (son Kausar), that’s what happened, into the fire.)
TEHELKA: Aggiya mein baha diya? Kaun-kaun log aaye the?
(Thrown in the fire… who all had come?)
Zareena: Wahi the, jo wahan rahe hein. (The same
ones, who were staying there.)
TEHELKA: Mohalle ke log the? (They were from the
locality?)
Zareena: Haan. (Yes.)
TEHELKA: Aur kab tak chala? (And how long did it
continue?)
Zareena: Akkha ratiya chala. (It continued the whole
night.)
TEHELKA: Beta aap ka? (And your son?)
Zareena: Chhe baje rattiya ko baha diya tha. (He
was burnt at six in the evening.)
TEHELKA: Aur jo Zaheera ki behan thi ek. (And Zaheera’s
sister?)
Zareena: Kaun? (Who?)
TEHELKA: Sabira.
Zareena: Aggiya mein baha diya. (She too was burnt.)
TEHELKA: Usko kitne bajje bahaya? (At what time?)
Zareena: Vahi, chhe bajje. (Same, at six.) Aur sab
ke, das bajje din tak maarte rahe. (And they kept killing till 10
in the morning.)
TEHELKA: Aur Zaheera aur aap log, kaise bacche phir? (And
how did Zaheera and you all survive?)
Zareena: Hum log sab upar rahe hein… Zaheera rahen,
hum rahen, maniyon kuchh rahe, Allahabad ke rahen, Bahraich ke rahen,
Mehdeyan ke rahen, das baje din ke rahen, haath pair jod ke kahe humre
kuch nahi kahibe, humre kuch nahi kahibe…toh sab utrat gayen, aur
woh sab marat gayen. (We were all upstairs. Zaheera was there. I
was there, and there were people from Allahabad and Bahraich. We were
there till 10 and we folded our hands and begged, saying don’t kill
us. The men kept coming down and they kept killing.)
TEHELKA: Utarte gaye, marat gaye. (They went down
and they kept getting killed…) To aap ka naam gawahon mein nahi
tha? (Was your name included in the list of witnesses?)
Zareena: Nahi tha. (No.)
TEHELKA: Toh aap kab laut ke aayen wahan se? dange ke
kitne dino baad? (So when did you come back? How many days after
the riot?)
Zareena: Do maheeno baad aaye. (After two months.)
TEHELKA: Kausar ka kuchh milla, jalne ke baad. (Did
you find any remains of Kausar after he was burnt?)
Zareena: Nahi kuchh bhi nahi mila. (No nothing remained.)
TEHELKA: Zaheera aap ke kya hui, nathni hui? (Who
is Zaheera to you? Is she your granddaughter?)
Zareena: Haan, nathni hui. (Yes, she is my granddaughter.)
TEHELKA: Sehrunnisa ki ladki hui. (Is she Sehrunnisa’s
daughter?)
Zareena: Haan. (Yes.)
TEHELKA: Kaun-kaun tha, us waqt male par? (Who
all were there on that floor?)
Zareena: Hum rahe, Sehrun raheen, yahan Maghaeyan
ke rahen, Bahraich zille ka, Allahabad ke, sab upar hi rahen. (I
was there, Sehrun was there. There were people from Maghaeyan, from Bahraich
district, from Allahabad. Everyone was upstairs.)
TEHELKA: Allahabad se kaun raha? (Who was there
from Allahabad?)
Zareena: Firoz rahen, do ladke, ek mehraru…aur
ka naam heh woh …(Firoz was there, two boys, one mehraru…
and another whose name was…)
TEHELKA: Achha, toh Firoz bacche? (OK. Is Firoz
alive?)
Zareena: Unko bhi maar dala. Un ke do bachhe, ek bitiya,
ek bitwa, ek mehraru, ek apne. Aur unke bhai ke do ladke, ek bitiya, ek
mehraru aur ek lulla langda….woh wahin pe jala diye. Hamme police
utarit rahe. (They killed him, too. His two children, one daughter,
one son, his wife. His brother’s two sons, one daughter, his wife
and one deaf and dumb… they were all burnt alive. The police brought
us down.)
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