For this girl, life is difficult

Mumbai: The life of 10-year-old Devika Rotavan has changed completely. She was at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), on the night of November 26, 2008 – when the terrorist duo Mohammed Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail opened fire and carried out the mayhem.

She is the youngest of the witnesses to have deposed before Additional Sessions Judge ML Tahaliyani, who is conducting the trial of the 26/11 terror attacks case.

When she had deposed, she bravely identified Kasab, who was sitting in the docks. Devika had sustained bullet injuries on her right leg and now takes support of crutches to walk. She and her father Natwarlal are the two crucial eye-witnesses of the CST incident.

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The family hails from Rajasthan – and was at the CST to catch a train to Pune on that ill-fated night, when Kasab and Abu Ismail launched firing from AK-47s and hurled grenades. More than 50 persons have died in the incident at CST, one of the busiest and biggest railway stations in the country.

"Just as we were leaving I saw two persons firing at people. I received a bullet injury in my right leg, my leg broke, and blood spilled out," Devika said.

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She is always calm and composed despite her injures and what they have done to her life. Tahaliyani, while verifying if she was a competent witness, asked her whether she knew the meaning of taking oath and Devika said she did. "All I know is that I have to speak the truth and it is a sin to tell lies," she had said.

She further told the court that on seeing the terrorists she along with her father Natwar and another elder brother Jayesh tried to move to a safer place, and while running Devika received a bullet on her right leg and fell unconscious.

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Rotawan took Devika, to the nearby St George hospital and later had to shift her to JJ Hospital for an operation – though she survived, the scars remain.

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