On mother’s day,she waits for son jailed for 17 yrs

In 2010,a Delhi court sentenced Nisar to death but acquitted his brother. His family challenged the judgment in the High Court,which acquitted him in 2012. Nisar wasn’t released; he was taken to Jaipur and jailed in another case. “Though a part of me returned home after a long wait of 14 years,” she says,“a part of me is still in jail.”

Padshah’s has been a long,hard struggle for justice. Her husband had died a year before her sons were arrested. She had to fight for them and look after another son and three young daughters. “Nobody can have an idea how much I have suffered all these years. Only me and my God know what I have gone through,” Padshah adds. “But God made me strong. God gave me patience. I married off my daughters even while my two sons were in jail.”

For her,mother’s day is just another day of sorrow. “For me,it has no meaning. A mother will celebrate it only when her children are around her,” she says. And her son is not there; she barely even remembers his face now. “He spent his childhood in jail. He grew up there. I have not seen him growing.”

At home,Padshah spends much time on the prayer rug. Her hands raised,she prays for her son. “Iftikhar told me to pray for him,” she says. Her prayer is one word — Insaf (Justice). “I hope my son will get justice,that he will come out,” she says,then adds. “My tears will get him out of the jail.”