Nine months ago, their father, Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, became the first serving army officer in the country to be arrested in connection with a terror attack — the Malegaon bomb blast — in which six people were killed. His sons, aged 10 and four, are not only blissfully unaware of the crisis that has hit their family but also believe that their dad is away on a top-secret security assignment and hence cannot be contacted.

The reason: their mother Dr Aparna Purohit has stopped subscribing to newspapers at their Pune home, has disconnected the Internet and cable TV and is generally shielding them from any information about their father.

“I have ensured my kids are kept away from any news about my husband’s arrest,” Aparna, who has a homoeopathy practice, told The Indian Express. “While it’s a matter of great excitement for them that their dad is on a great national security mission, I have to live with a lie every day.”

While she admits that the boys find the “restrictions” strange, Aparna says she is just trying to protect them from a shock she feels they will not be able to handle. “We try inculcating values in our children, and here I lie everyday to them. I don’t know what will be more miserable for them. Knowing that their father is going through a court trial and is in jail or that I have been lying to them all this while,” she adds.

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