Lynched techie's kin still trying to piece together reasons behind the mob’s ‘fury’

The family has been watching clips of the incident and speaking to Azam’s friends, but to no avail.
Twin brothers Mohammed Aslam and Mohammed Akram take turns to engage their elder brother Azam’s 18-month-old  son, who asks for his father the first thing in the morning | vinay madapu
Twin brothers Mohammed Aslam and Mohammed Akram take turns to engage their elder brother Azam’s 18-month-old son, who asks for his father the first thing in the morning | vinay madapu

HYDERABAD: Till recently 18-month-old Mohammed Ahmed, and his mother Fouzia Sultana used to wake up to the alarm in her husband’s mobile phone at 3.30 am every day. Now, the alarm does not go off anymore, but that habit refuses to die down, and Fouzia still wakes up at the same time, every day, only to grieve the death of her husband, Mohammed Azam. It was at this time that Azam woke up every day, get ready, offer morning prayers and then head to work.

It has been four days since Azam was lynched by a furious mob in Bidar. Fouzia was still coping with the loss of her father when tragedy struck the second time, now snatching her husband.

The roads leading to their house in Errakunta, on the outskirts of Old City, are filled with thick vegetation. The gloomy weather and the eerily silent environs swell her grief. There’s a point beyond which the body refuses to bear with the grief, and Fouzia faints, at least twice a day.

And for Azam’s son Ahmed, who is yet to start speaking fluently, Papa is one word he says continuously. “Both the mother and son have hardly eaten anything from Friday night. They have become weak. Ahmed has been vomiting whatever he eats, including tablets. Immediately after waking up in the morning, he starts asking for his dad,” said Mohammed Aslam, one of Azam’s twin brothers- who too are techies.

The twin brothers - Aslam and Akram - are still trying to piece together the reasons that led to the gory lynching. Watching clips of the incident and speaking to Azam’s friends who too were attacked on a fateful day has not been of much help for them.

Azam, being the most responsible of the siblings, used to manage all the works at home - be it buying milk from the neighbourhood Kirana store or paying all the household bills. “The two of us were lazy and never cared about responsibilities at home. It was our elder brother (Azam) who used to book gas cylinder, cook on his week offs, clean the entire home and took kids to parks and other places. It is because of his persistence and planning that we completed our bachelors, worked abroad and are today pursuing jobs at top IT companies,” said Aslam, who also works at Accenture. Akram works at Amazon in Hitech city.

Strict action

A few hours after the Supreme Court’s judgement on lynching, Azam’s father Mohammed Osman demanded strict action against the people who lynched Azam. Aslam and Akram to have requested the government to consider the situation of the infant who has lost his father and issues financial compensation

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com