'Kasab deserves no mercy', says disabled girl's father

Father of the 11-year-old girl disabled by the bullets of Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab is still an angry man.

On the fateful night of November 26, Natwarlal Rotawan was waiting at the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) with his daughter Devika and son Akash for a train when two terrorists opened fire at the station.

Natwarlal, who runs a dry fruit shop at Kalbadevi in South Mumbai says Kasab must be hanged in full view of public. 

"He has killed innocent people and deserves no mercy. The court must give him death penalty," a visibly annoyed Natwarlal said.

"That blood thirsty Kasab ruined my daughter's life. Now who will marry her. Her future is dark," an emotional Natwarlal said.

In June last year, Devika and Natwarlal identified Kasab in court as one of the two gunmen who had opened fire at her and other passengers at CST. Though the little girl is in deep pain and is too young to understand terrorism says she wants to eradicate terrorism and would do it by joining police force.

"I don't want other children to face what I had to go through. I do not want people to become a victim of terror. I will join police force and remove terrorism and hatred. I want peace everywhere," Devika said.

I will soon join an English medium school, study hard so that I can join police force, she said.



The girl is in no mood to let the disability dictate terms. "I am not afraid of them. I want to fight them all," she said.

Talking about the ill-fated day that changed her life drastically, Devika said, "How can I forget that night, when I saw people killed in front of me. It was scary and horrible to see all that. Whenever I see Kasab on TV, I get very angry," she remarked

"We were waiting for a train to Pune. We heard gunshots and saw two people with guns...firing at people just like in movies. I saw people running helter-skelter. While we were running, I was hit by a bullet and fell to the ground," Devika remembers what happened on 26/11 as if it happened yesterday.

Devika, who is forced to rely on her crutches, loved to play hide and seek and cricket but feels low when she sees other children playing. 

"When I see others playing, I also feel like same, the sad part is I am unable to play now," she said.