Riot victim lives on to serve people in Gujarat

Rioters massacred 19 of his family members on that ill-fated day a decade ago at Gulbarg Society; but the killing fields couldn't keep him away for too long.

He returned back home and begun living there six months after the 2002 riots. Till date he is the only resident of the society who offers shelter to the patients visiting Civil Hospital from other states, most of them Hindus. Meet Kasam Mansuri, a firm believer in one God for everyone, who calls his dead kin, martyrs, and worships humanity!

For the last few years, Mansuri has been playing host to at least one patient daily. Patients suffering from cancer, brain tumour among others not only get shelter, but also free food, money for medicine and at times auto-rickshaw fare from Gulbarg Society to the Civil Hospital.

Satisfied and happy with the service he renders to fellow human beings, Mansuri lives a life full of memories - some good, others not so.

His family members including his grandchildren were incidentally burnt alive in the riots. One of them was a six-month-old baby! However, the inferno of hatred couldn't burn down his belief in humanity!

"He is like a Messiah to me," said Sher Singh Lodhi, a farmer from Sehore town in Madhya Pradesh. Lodhi was suffering from brain tumour. "Had he not held my hand, I would have died without treatment," Lodhi told DNA on phone from Sehore.

Currently, Narendra Luhar, a resident of Jaipur and a cancer patient, is staying at Mansuri's bungalow. He is undergoing radiotherapy at the Civil Hospital. "I came here with my old mother and am living here for one month now," said Luhar, who is offered milk, while his mother is being fed regularly by Mansuri.

Mansuri said that his sons, who live in Bapunagar, send him lunch and dinner regularly. “I have asked them to send food enough for three people. My family suffered a lot because of the hatred; however, I want to end it with love," he said. The money that Mansuri has received as compensation is being used in the treatment of patients as for him castes hold no value for this humane face.