She was married to a wonderful, kind-hearted man. Children loved him. He looked after his family well. How could we know his family would turn out like this?" asks Faujdar Singh.
He does not expect his son-in-law's family to support his daughter or grandchild. "They can reject her, but I can't. She's my blood," he says.
He is not well-off, but he is clear that he will support his daughter and grand-daughter. Sunita, who has finished her first year in senior college, says she is prepared to study further. She is also hoping to get a job in the railways, and says she is prepared to go to whichever place is allotted to her.
She does not want to be dependent on anyone, including her father. "I want my daughter to study, to be a graduate, to work. I want her to be capable of coping with any situation in life," she says.
Fashion designer and social activist Shaina NC has set up a fund for Sheetal through her foundation, I Love Mumbai. The foundation has already collected Rs 70,000 though donations by individual Mumbaikars, says Shaina, and hopes to raise the corpus to Rs 100,000.
"The distribution of this money will be monitored by the I Love Mumbai trust. It will make sure that Sheetal's mother is financially independent and that Sheetal's education will not suffer due to lack of funds," she says.
Image: Sunita and Sheetal
Also see: In Delhi, tears for the fallen heroes
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