Delhi riots: ID card wrangle for daughter to get remains of father who died in violence

Most of Gulshan’s documents mention her husband, hence, she is struggling to prove her relation to her father to claim his remains.
Gulshan lost her father in Northeast Delhi violence.
Gulshan lost her father in Northeast Delhi violence.

NEW DELHI: A week has past since communal violence broke out in the national capital and 27-year-old Gulshan is still waiting for the remains of her father Mohammad Anwar, who was burnt alive inside his Shiv Vihar house. 

Gulshan is struggling to claim Anwar’s remains as most of her identification documents mention her husband, which is coming in the way of proving her relation to her 58-year-old father.

“We have been visiting the hospital regularly for the last five days, doctors are doing DNA testing to find the relatives but I have been asked to present a government document in which it clearly shows that he is my father,” said Gulshan. 

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A group of volunteers from Delhi State Legal Service Authority is helping the victims like Gulshan at the Guru Teg Bahadur hospital. The sole read winner of the family, Anwar had two vegetable carts which he used to rent out to others in order to earn a living. 

As Gulshan’s husband Nasruddin could not earn a living after being injured in an accident year ago, Anwar supported his daughter, her husband and their two children. With Anwar now gone, Gulshan is struggling to survive.

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“Our sons have been asking about their grandfather for days, we have not found the courage to tell them about what happened yet,” said Gulshan.

When she last spoke to her father he told them that there was a scuffle going on outside his house between some groups, before he suddenly disconnected the call. Gulshan lives with her husband in Pilkhuwa of Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur.

Relationship proof

Most of Gulshan’s documents mention her husband, hence, she is struggling to prove her relation to her father to claim his remains.

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