(Above): Dhananjoy’s father Banshidhar laments that a Brahmin’s son has been denied clemency. (Below): Mother Belarani in a daze after hearing that the President had rejected her son’s mercy plea. Pictures by Debajyoti Chatterjee

In a mud hut at Bankura’s Kurudi, about 270 km from Calcutta, the hope that the condemned man’s family had nursed so long, on Wednesday turned first into disbelief, and then into hysterical denouncement. Dhananjoy’s family members declared that they would all commit suicide the day he was hanged.

Father Banshidhar, 77, became progressively incoherent as the realisation of his son’s doom sank in.

“When the President postponed the hanging, I thought my son had received a new lease of life. Now, I cannot believe that the President actually rejected our plea for clemency. He did not consider for even a moment that a Brahmin’s son has spent 14 long years in the condemned cell of a prison,” the father lamented.

“As if that was not punishment enough, he sanctioned his death sentence,” he said. “We will perish the way our son will in case he is hanged,” he added.

Mother Belarani, 67, had turned into stone. She wandered listlessly for hours, with one of her grandchildren in tow, and finally sank into bed.

Dhananjoy’s wife Purnima had gone away to her father’s house. The prime concern of the remaining nine members of the Chatterjee family was to take stock of the situation. Even as the children of the house scampered about, Dhananjoy’s brothers Bikash, 32, and Gangadhar, 52, sat together, discussing the situation.

Rendered virtually penniless by litigation, the family was out of food. The block development officer of Chhatna had sent 270 kg of wheat in the morning, but the sack was left untouched. “We don’t have enough money to grind the wheat,” Bikash said.

“The local nagarik committee had given us 54 kg rice, but that was exhausted a long time ago. Earlier, we owned 12 bighas. Of that, eight bighas were sold to meet the expenses incurred during this case, and the remaining four were mortgaged. We have been subsisting on the money we borrowed, and now there are no avenues open before us,” Banshidhar lamented.

“We are poor, and our poverty prevented us from saving our son. We do not wear watches, and have no money in our pockets, and are, therefore, compelled to join the ranks of the helpless,” he said.

“There are so many criminals walking free in society, people who have committed more heinous crimes, but they have not been sent to the gallows, because they were moneyed folks. That is the state of justice today,” he added.

“The day Dhananjoy is hanged, all the nine members of my family will commit suicide,” he stressed.

The threat of mass suicide, spurred Bankura’s superintendent of police Anil Kumar to post a police contingent in the village.