10 yrs on, Hubli’s forgotten victims

While the Uma Bharati surrender played out across the country, August 25 brought back dark memories for the relatives of those killed in the...

While the Uma Bharati surrender played out across the country, August 25 brought back dark memories for the relatives of those killed in the 1994 Hubli riots. ‘‘My husband had nothing to do with the riots. He neither participated in the protest march nor in the flag-hoisting,’’ says 55-year-old Shantabai, wife of Srinivas Katti who was killed in the police firing on August 15, 1994. ‘‘He was just standing in front of our house. He took a bullet in the stomach and collapsed,’’

Hugging her two daughters, she huddles in a corner of her one-room tenement at Chandranathnagar as she recollects the events of that day. Katti was among the five killed in the police firing.

Then, the family survived on his small job. Now, Shantabai works as a cook but can hardly make ends meet. ‘‘How will I marry off my two daughters? The compensation given by the government (Rs 1 lakh) has been spent. I have been asking the government for a job for one of my daughters on humanitarian grounds. Nothing has happened. Many leaders, including L.K. Advani, Ananth Kumar and Yediyurappa came to console us that day. But now, all is forgotten,’’ she says.

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The riots in 1994 also claimed a 12-year-old boy, Manjunath. Ambika Barde (45), the victim’s mother, asks how her young and innocent son could be held guilty of rioting. ‘‘He was playing with other children in front of the house when he was hit by a bullet,’’ she says. To this day, her son is referred to as a riots ‘‘accused’’ in the police records.

Sixty-year-old Kalavathi Minajagi breaks down while remembering her son, Mahadev, then 27 and married with three children. Mahadev was killed in the police firing too. Kalavathi holds politicians responsible for her family’s tragedy.In vain. The surrender drama isn’t over yet.