‘Protesters hit my father, kicked, trampled him when he fell’

For the family of Subhash Chand Tomar, the constable who is battling for life at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital after being beaten and kicked by protesters on Tilak Marg on Sunday, the first TV report on him almost brought down their world.

As soon as he returned home from coaching class, Tomar's son Deepak (20) switched on the TV to catch the latest on the protest at India Gate. And then he heard his father's name. He thought he had heard it wrong, so he switched to another channel, then another. Every channel had his father's name.

"I was stunned. They said he had received serious injuries and that he was dead. I couldn't believe my ears. My father is posted in the North-east District and this protest was on in New Delhi. We had no idea that he would be deployed there for law and order duty. He had never even mentioned it," Deepak said.

He called the Karawal Nagar police station, where his father is posted, and spoke to one of his colleagues who asked him to rush to hospital.

"I immediately switched off the television. The headlines had it that my father was dead. I did not want my mother to see it. I told her I was going to hospital. Just then, a car from the police station came to take us all to hospital."

Doctors at the hospital said his father had also had a cardiac arrest and was on ventilator support. His condition was critical, they told the family.

"He had his check-up done earlier and the reports were fine. He is 48 years old. The protesters hit him and trampled him after he fell. They kicked him. That's why he is battling for life. I just hope he recovers. I want nothing from anyone," Deepak said.

... contd.

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