A Decade After 26/11 Terror Attack, Justice Remains Elusive For Tukaram Omble's Family

Every year in November, the Ombles are tossed into a timewarp. It draws the surviving family of assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Omble back to 2008, right into the tortured days after the Mumbai terror attack. Vaishali Omble (29) says their lives changed forever after tragedy struck them unexpectedly and took their beloved father away. Luckily, the Mumbai police has been with them like a rock. 바카라�They supported our family in all the odds we faced after our father바카라�s death. We received immediate help whenever we made a call to any police officer in Mumbai,바카라� says a grateful Vaishali. A police job comes with its risks, true, but nothing prepared the Ombles for the terrible blow. Omble had served as a jawan in the Indian army before he joined the Mumbai police. On 26/11, he was unarmed, but it did not stop him from taking on Ajmal Kasab and Ismail when they exited Cama Hospital, after their carnage at the CST railway terminal, where they opened fire on defenceless commuters, killing more than 50. The killers weren바카라�t going to be stopped yet: Kasab fired the fatal bullet that took Tukaram바카라�s life.

Vaishali, thus, spent her early adult years without a father바카라�s hand to guide her. 바카라�It was a sudden, rude initiation to the insecurities of the outside world and, without a fatherly figure, we had to take up responsibilities soon,바카라� she says.

The government gave Omble a posthumous Ashok Chakra; his family got compensation. 바카라�I think that it (compensation) shouldn바카라�t be a one-time help. The pain, grief and want are not over after a one-time financial grant. In fact, it becomes the government바카라�s duty to look after the family for as long as they need it,바카라� says Vaishali.

She also says that hanging the lone terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, has not delivered justice to victims바카라� families. 바카라�The masterminds are still at large in Pakistan. Neither the earlier government nor the current one has been able to punish them for their gruesome deed,바카라� says Vaishali. Justice, for her, remains elusive afer a decade of heartbreak.

By Neel Shah in Mumbai