Those 17 hours haunt Biro Devi all day—she says she is too traumatised to even eat. “Neighbours bring me food. But how can I eat when I am so tense? Most of the times, the food stays untouched,” she says.
Back in the hospital, Biro Devi’s son Billu Ram, who is attending to his wife Sunita Devi in hospital, says he too is worried for the children. They watched in horror as the militants shot dead teacher Ashok Kumar and Sham Murari, a military intelligence personnel who confronted the militants inside their house. They were made to sit on the floor by the side of their injured mother for over 17 hours, hungry and thirsty, their clothes stained with blood. All through this, the terrorists kept slapping and threatening to kill them if they wept.

Away at their maternal grandparents’ house in Smailpur, the children are withdrawn, says Billu Ram who visits them every day. Gone are the carefree cackles and the fierce squabbles that kept them busy. These days, they cling to a relative and turn away at the mention of home.
The nearby DD Public School in Chinore reopened three days ago after the Amarnath agreement. However, Billu Ram’s three older children don’t want to go to school now that their teacher Ashok Kumar is no more. “The children were very close to their tutor Ashok. He had gone home to Bhaderwah for Raksha Bandan. I told him to come after Janamasthmi on August 24. But he came three days earlier on August 22, saying he was happiest teaching,” says Billu Ram.

... contd.