13 years after train tragedy, a quest for closure

{ JNANESWARI EXPRESS} BODIES STILL UNIDENTIFIED

- Joydeep Thakur

Every time 57-year-old Rajesh Kumar Bhatra crosses either the Agrasen Balika Siksha Sadan, a girl’s school at Liluah in Howrah district or MC Kejriwal Vidyapeeth — a five-minute walk separates the two — he is reminded of his wife, son, and daughter.

Thirteen years ago, when the son, Sourav was just 12 and a student of class eight, and daughter Sneha was studying in class 12, he lost both of them, and his wife of 20 years Indu in a rail accident. All three were passengers of coach S3 on the Jnaneswari Express, which met with an accident on May 28, 2010. The children along with their mother were travelling to Bhiwandi in Maharashtra to spend the summer vacation with their grandparents.

“I saw them off at night. Early the next morning, I got a call from a local resident of West Midnapore saying that the train had met with an accident and my son was grievously injured. There was no sign of my wife and daughter,” Bhatra said.

He rushed his son to a Kolkata hospital where the boy died three days later. The search for his wife and daughter continued. Seven months later, on December 24, his wife’s body was identified after a DNA test.