Anupama Das, mother of Parag Das, at her Maligaon residence on Tuesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, July 28: Octogenarian Anupama Das, the mother of slain rights activist and journalist Parag Kumar Das, had waited 13 years for this day hoping against hope that those who conspired and killed her son would be punished.

But when the news came to her this morning, she was more angry than sad.

“Today, they have killed my son for the second time,” she cried out, reacting to the district and sessions court’s verdict on her son’s murder. The court today acquitted the lone surviving accused for want of evidence.

Anupama told The Telegraph at her Maligaon residence that even though the family had apprehensions that Parag’s killers would not be punished, they had kept their faith alive in the judiciary till the last moment.

“I have nothing much to say now. If Parag’s killers can escape from the hands of law, there is thin hope of justice for anybody else. Let the people of Assam decide what should be done now,” she said, her voice dripping with anger.

The mood in the house — an old RCC building cramped in a busy commercial zone — was of anger and frustration.

But Rita Das, the widow of the slain journalist, was the same stoic self she had displayed for the past 13 years, waiting for justice. Their two children, son Rohan and daughter Prerona, were also not in the mood to speak. She has been staying with her parents at Silpukhuri and avoiding the media ever since Das was murdered.

Incidentally, Rohan was by his father’s side when Parag was shot dead in broad daylight at Rajgarh on May 17, 1996, in front of his son’s school. Das had just picked up his son from school and was about to return home when the assailants struck.

Rohan is currently pursuing engineering at North Eastern Hill University in Shillong while Prerona is a degree student at Cotton College.

“The verdict has silenced our voice for ever. My daughter Rita and my family waited 13 long years for justice. But now we are at a loss for words. It is difficult to believe that a young and popular journalist was killed on the street of Assam capital’s city in broad daylight and our system could not find the killers in 13 years. Parag’s loss has been so painful that my daughter has never gone to any function or talked to the media ever since the killing. Let’s hope that there will not be a similar incident in future,” Gobinda Chandra Talukdar, Parag’s father-in-law, said.

Pallab Das, the Delhi-based brother of the journalist, termed the verdict as the defeat of those who were fighting for the cause of human rights.

“The verdict has deepened the tragedy of losing my brother 13 years ago,” he said, adding that his family’s apprehension that Parag would not get justice had come true.