Hardest journey Babu Khan ever made, carrying bodies of his two sons killed in Delhi riots

The bodies of Amir Khan (30) and Hashim Ali (19), who were killed during the riots in Northeast Delhi, were released by Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital Saturday after a postmortem. Photographs by Praveen Jain.

Bodies of Amir and Hashim, kept in a van after the postmortem was conducted at GTB Hospital Saturday. A relative makes arrangements to take the bodies back home | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: Babu Khan, a father in Northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad, made the most gruelling journey of his life on foot Saturday evening, bearing the dead bodies of his two young sons.

It was around 5 pm when the bodies of the two brothers — Amir Khan (30) and Hashim Ali (19), who were allegedly stripped and then killed during the riots in Northeast Delhi — were released by Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, after a postmortem.

The two were among the 43 people who were killed across Northeast Delhi.

Devastated, Babu Khan first took the bodies to their home in Mustafabad, where Amir’s two daughters aged 4 and 2 years, awaited their father’s return.

The bodies were first kept at their home in Old Mustafabad, where thousands of people gathered to offer condolences to the family, and then began what Babu Khan called the most “arduous journey” of his life — carrying his two dead sons to the cemetery on his shoulder.

Babu Khan watches on as people put bodies of his two sons, covered in a white cloth, inside the van| Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

A relative of the two brothers shows Hashim’s photo on his mobile phone | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Babu Khan, taking the bodies of his sons back home. In his hand, he holds the papers that declared his sons dead | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

In Mustafabad, hundreds gather to take the bodies out of the van to be escorted to Babu Khan’s home inside a narrow bylane | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Asgari, mother of Amir and Hashim, is inconsolable. Grief-stricken sisters Nagma and Rehna look at the photos of their brothers on their mobile phone as they await the bodies. | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

People wait with the bodies before taking them to the cemetery for burial | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

People preparing for the janaza, the last journey. | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Both bodies put on a cot outside their home in Old Mustafabad as people pour in to offer condolences | Photo: Praveen Jain | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Hundreds join in as the janaza makes its way to the Mustafabad cemetery | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

After completing the journey of over a kilometre, people lend hands to lay the bodies to rest in graves inside the cemetery in Mustafabad | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

People help lower the bodies to be laid in the graves | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint