Through Wednesday, Rupali did not have a morsel and was glued to the television news. She occasionally switched on the radio to find out what had happened to her husband?s killers. Around 5.45 pm, the 30-year-old rose and bowed before her policeman husband Anup Mondal?s photograph, muttering: ?Thank God, justice has been delivered.?

Families of the other four policemen killed on January 22, 2002, in the American Center attack, also spent a tense Wednesday, as the city sessions and civil court judge sentenced Aftab Ansari and six accomplices to death.

?I have two kids and they have only seen their father?s photograph,? said Rupali. Anup, the only policeman in Raitala village, in Kulpi, South 24-Parganas, was only 24 when he was killed.

?We can?t get over the cruel turn our lives took. We have found some satisfaction in the judgment. A killer like Aftab Ansari deserves the maximum penalty,? said Kunti Mondal, Anup?s mother.

?Anup was, and still is, the pride of the village. The entire village will gather in the evening to pay homage to him,? she added.

In Bamunpara, Howrah, family members of constable Suresh Chandra Hembram were in a joyous mood.

?Neighbours even bought sweets to celebrate the verdict. The support and love we have received from people is unbelievable,? said Suresh?s brother Naresh.

Suresh had died after a massive cardiac arrest following his injury in the firing.

The Sarkar family of Shalipur village, Haroa, North 24-Parganas, switched channels all day to hear the news of the verdict. Pijush Kanti Sarkar was to return to his village for a holiday, but death came riding on motorcycles that morning. ?Our hearts pine for him,? said Raja Ghosh, a friend.

?I am told that a case can drag for years. We don?t want a criminal like Ansari to stay in this world,? said Muskura Bibi, widow of slain constable Asraf Ali. She remarried Asraf?s younger brother Aftab, who, too, is a policeman in the city.

In Pitahar, North Dinajpur, Asha Burman, sister of Ujjwal Burman, also killed in the attack, cut a forlorn figure. ?I am happy that the wait is over,? is all she had to say.