Shagufta Farheen (10),Wanted to be a doctor, loved studying English

Some loose papers in Farheen’s notebook spells the greeting ‘hi’ as ‘high’. It is marked in bold, continuing with “have a good day”. Ironically, it was what was to be the last that she wrote after her sister sent her out to run an errand — the family had just broken the ramzan fast and the only dish missing were the tikkas that a neighbour chacha made. On the night of September 29, it was her badly bruised body strewn next to the fatal bike, which many feel angered a violent mob, triggering the riots.

Her father, Shaikh Liyaqat Moinuddin (48), has stopped going out, as every time he does so he meets eyewitnesses who first sympathise and then begin detailing him on how her face was bruised. “I just can’t hear it again and again. My Shago was the most beautiful girl and now she is no more. I still feel she will come home from school,” cries Moinuddin.

Farheen, who had just started her standard fifth in the ‘Kali Imarat Wali municipality corporation ki school’, was most excited about English language, says her mother, Farida. “She would utter words in English and ask us to repeat it. None of us understood what she meant. She would give us the Urdu meaning once all of us gave up. She would spent most of her time reading and writing. She even took great interest in learning Arabic at the madarsa. Her only dream was to become a doctor. “She often saw some women in the neighbourhood ride to work in two-wheelers. They all are doctors in the nearby hospital. I think it had more to do with her fascination for bikes,” says her father.

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