He saw his mother burn to death

KANPUR: Even as society continues to treat cases of dowry deaths with indifference, for 11-year-old Ankit the ghastly murder of his mother is going to be etched in his memory for rest of his life.
Ankit’s mother Babli,a resident of Ghatampur, was allegedly burnt to death by her husband and fatherin-lawe .Numb, dazed and unwilling to interact since her mother lost the battle of life and died in a city hospital last week, the boy eventually narrated the tale of his mother’s death to the Times News Network.
Recounting the events of that fateful day Ankit, a class V students at St Teresa Convent in Kanpur,said “My mother had thrashed me for I was spilling lot of water and asked me to go and have a bath or get off her sight�.
Soon after my father walked in. He was in a foul mood. He abused everybody present at the house and ended up beating my mother,Ankit said. “My father was yelling Babli what are you doing. Get some money from your house .My brothers have usurped all property,’’ the boy said adding he then asked me to go and get some toffee for myself and my little sister Ayushi.
When I came back I saw my mother in flames fighting to get out of the room and screaming for help. She was pleading not to throw water on her but my father and grandpa threw a bucketful water on her and left the room,the boy recalled.‘‘
My baba (Sankata Prasad tripathi) and father Jagdish then murmured something before raising an alarm� Ankit said. "I saw them tell my mother, who was writhing in pain, that she was not likely to survive and hence should not tell anything to the police that could harm children," Ankit narrated.
“My mother was then shunted to my nani’s place,’’ he said.From her mother’s place Babli was allegedly taken from one hospital to another and precious time was lost to provide her medical aid. She finally was admitted to a hospital which was not having facilities to treat such patients.
The ordeal of the 11-year-old did not end even after the death of his mother. He was allegedly witness to police apathy to such cases. The SHO Kotwali asked the distraught family to go to Ghatampur since the case occured there. It was only after some ‘powerful’ and ‘well connected’ people in the city got through to SSP MK Bashal that case was registered against Babli’s in-laws.