Delhi blast: Families waited all night outside hospital as VIP visits delayed their meeting with victims

The night after the horrific explosion near Red Fort, family members of the injured waited outside the heavily guarded Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital (LNJP) to meet their loved ones.

Mohammed Hufaiza, 15, who has been sitting on the pavement outside the heavily-barricaded hospital, has not yet been able to see his uncle, 55-year-old Mohammad Farukh, one of the victims of Monday’s blast.

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His father, the younger brother of Farukh, was the first in the family to rush to the hospital at around 8 pm on Monday soon after he came to know that the victims were being taken to the LNJP.

Little Hufaiza, who learnt about the incident on her return from tuition classes, worried about his uncle, owner of a refrigerator spare part shop.

“My father is inside (the hospital). Since his phone is dead, we do not know what is happening there. We heard my uncle’s leg is injured,” said Farukh, sitting alongside his sister and mother.

A similar scene played out for the family of another victim, 27-year-old Shiva Jaiswal, a marketing professional from the Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh, who frequents Chandni Chowk market for business. “We were not able to reach his phone,” said his uncle, speaking to The Statesman. “Worried, his sister Rajna — who also lives in Delhi — and I switched on the TV, fearing the worst.”

There was no word from the authorities. Later, as they watched the news on TV, they came to know that Shiva was the patient who Home Minister Amit Shah met during his visit to the hospital. His maternal uncle showed photos of his nephew on his phone, before and after the blast, with bare head, neck wounds, a broken nose, and multiple fractures on his right arm.

“As soon as we saw the visuals, we rushed to the hospital,” he said, but lamented that they couldn’t meet Shiva until this morning because of the VIP movement late into the night.

Though doctors say he is stable, Shiva lost consciousness during the explosion and still doesn’t remember what hit him. “Looking at the burnt hair on his scalp, we suspect a flaming boulder fell on his head,” he added.

Meanwhile, heavy security has been deployed at several entrances leading to the casualty ward of the hospital where the injured are being treated. Both male and female security personnel were stationed there to restrict access to visitors, including journalists, citing security protocol and patient care even as movement of government officials continued inside the premises through the night.