“Can any government, police or any court share the pain of a person, who being at the fag end of his life also has to bear the load of the pyres of his two sons. I was a happy man seeing both my sons raising their children and we all were living like an ordinary happy family. Both my sons were working in the fields, throughout the day and raise a living for all of us. This criminal (Kolbir) has snatched away our entire world from us. God will never spare him. It was my ill-fate that in my lifetime I had to attend to the funerals of both my sons,” said a hapless Harpal Singh, who is bed-ridden and in a state of shock.
While Kuldeep is survived by wife Meera Devi, a daughter and two sons Sham and Umender, his elder brother Rajender is survived by wife Premvati, two daughters and two sons Jagdev and Rajesh. While both the brothers had already got their daughters married, the four sons of both the brothers are teenagers and pursuing their education in various streams.
“Our entire education expenditure was borne by my father and uncle. The burden of our family has come on our heads now. Our parents always wanted us to get out of the village and make a name for us, by either joining the Army like our grandfather or get into government jobs. Everything has been ruined now. Kolbir shall not be spared for what he has done to our family,” said Uminder, Kuldeep’s son.
Harpal Singh has living with his two sons and their families and grandchildren in a joint house in Bond Kalan for many decades. The family owns around four acres of agricultural land, in which the brothers worked. They were both killed by Kolbir, when they refused to give him food grains.
“What was their fault? Kolbir had a habit of extorting money, food and clothes from villagers. Kuldeep and Rajender, both being Thakurs never used to succumb to anybody’s pressure. When Kolbir tried to put pressure on them, they resisted, which cost them their lives. The law must not spare such a criminal. As such he is a criminal, who was convicted on charges of murder. He came out of jail on parole around seven years ago, and never went back. The police knew about his whereabouts, but because of his proximity with the policemen of the area, he was never caught,” said Manish, a relative of Harpal Singh.