Law should be allowed to take its own course

CHENNAI: That blast on that fateful day at Sriperumbudur rocked the lives of Nazeem Banu and her son Javid Iqbal. “Till the day before the blast, my husband (T K S Mohammad Iqbal) being the Superintendent of Police of the then West Chengalpattu District, we had constables and police officers who were on call to protect us. Life took a turn after his death,” Banu recalled.  “The police officers took me to the hospital (Chengalpattu GH) where my husband’s body was kept. After that, me and my son were left all alone. There was not a single policeman while we cried our hearts out. Grief-stricken and hungry, we were left all alone. The next morning, it was a  nurse who gave us water and brou-ght us some tea to drink.”Then on, from being a homemaker, Banu had to adorn the role of the breadwinner of the family. Her son Javid was 17 and had just finished his school. “Thanks to Congress leader GK Moopanar. After two years of struggle, he got us a gas agency license to sustain our lives.”  She added, “What is saddening today is that there is a huge public outcry for saving the accused but nobody is bothered about the sentiments of the people who lost their loved ones. I believe that the law should be allowed to take its course.”Javid Iqbal said, “Today the public and all political parties are rallying and campaigning for the commutation of the death sentence claiming them (the accused) as Tamilians and are trying to whip up Tamil ethnic sentiments. I would like to remind them that the 15 innocent victims who died on spot were also Tamils. Why is nobody talking about them? Why is there no sympathy for their families who suffered their loss for the past 20 years? Why are the public and political parties selective in their sympathy?”  Javid added, “We have silently suffered our loss. We want justice. The accused should be punished  as per the law.”“Most of the media and political party leaders, while making statements, are wrongly quoting that 17 innocent victims died along with Rajiv Gandhi. I would like to clarify that it was only 15 innocent victims. It was Dhanu the suicide bomber and Haribabu the photographer who added up to to the figure,” pointed out Javid.