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No festivities for abducted boys' families
Indo-Asian News Service

Patna, Oct 11 (IANS) As millions across India celebrate Durga Puja and Dussehra, there is no joy for the families of two boys who have been kidnapped in Bihar.

The parents and family members of the abducted schoolboys, Gaurav and Akash, are not celebrating to protest against the police failure to trace them. 

There are more than a dozen similar families across the state.

While Patna wears a festive look with devotees thronging colourful Puja pandals day and night, there is a pall of gloom at the homes of the missing boys.

"How can we celebrate when all of us going through suffering and mental agony?" asked Anil Kumar Singh, a businessman and father of Gaurav Kumar alias Golu who was abducted Sep 20.

Gaurav, a nine-year-old student at the DAV school at Danapur near here, was seized while walking back home after getting off from his school bus.

"I have vowed not to celebrate any festival till my son returns safely. How can a mother celebrate if her son is not around," asked Purnima Devi, Gaurav's mother.

Rupa Gupta, the mother of Akash, who was abducted nearly a week ago, said ruefully: "We came here to join our family to celebrate Durga Puja with out relatives but by son was abducted. We curse our decision to come to Patna."

Six-year-old Akash, son of a New Delhi-based businessman, was abducted Oct 6. 

Several families in Gaya, Purnea, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, Jehanabad and Begusarai districts, who have been for months awaiting news of their kin kidnapped by criminals, are also giving the festivities a go by.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the police to trace the missing boys at the earliest. Gaurav's abduction has become a major issue ahead of the Oct 18-Nov 19 assembly polls.

Hundreds of residents of Gola Road in Danapur, where Gaurav lived, are also not celebrating the festivals. The area does not have a single Durga Puja pandal.