Kundan Kumar’s world was a silent one. Hearing-impaired since birth, his language was that of gestures and emotions – laughing, smiling and pointing to communicate.
“While watching cricket matches on television, he couldn’t hear what was being said on the screen, but he would watch people’s reactions. If they cheered, he would too. If they were upset, he would also become sad,” Ajay Rai, a resident of Kundan’s Jakkopur village in Bihar’s Vaishali, says.
The 17-year-old’s shocking death in a village scuffle last week has brought a different kind of silence to the Rai household. It sits on the empty cot where Kundan and his grandfather Arjun slept, in the silent hay-chopping machine that he used to cut grass, and in the men who now do the tasks Kundan once did – gathering hay, feeding and milking cows, and delivering milk.
Arjun Rai tending to hay at his home in Jakkopur village in Bihar’s Vaishali. (Express photo: Himanshu Harsh)
It sits beside his grieving mother, Usha, in a small mud room that Kundan had hand-painted. “Kundan was our support,” she says. “He helped everyone. He never allowed anyone else to work… he would gesture that we rest and that he would handle everything.”
Last Sunday, Kundan died after a scuffle broke out between him and another boy during the India-New Zealand finals match of the T20 World Cup. Kundan was out delivering milk when the alleged assault occurred barely 50 metres from home.
The suspect, who has just taken his Class 12 exams, is currently on the run.
Kundan Kumar’s home Jakkopur village in Bihar’s Vaishali. (Express photo: Himanshu Harsh)
“An argument that started when a wicket fell soon turned into a scuffle,” Mahnar SDPO Praveen Kumar said earlier in the week. “There was a speed breaker at the spot, and the victim’s head hit it. He was rushed to the hospital immediately but his condition deteriorated rapidly. He was referred to PMCH but died on the way.”
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The incident has shaken not only the family but also the village. His mother says, “A boy came running and told us that he had fallen unconscious,” his mother says, while father Braj Kishore adds, “My son never had trouble with anyone. There had never been any feud between him and the boy who attacked him”.
That Sunday evening
It started, according to a resident, when Kundan stopped by a group of young men gathered to watch the match.
“When he was returning after delivering milk, he saw a few boys sitting together and watching something on a phone,” his relative Baidhyanath Rai says. “When he went closer to see the screen, one of them got irritated because Kundan reportedly started peeping into his phone.”
Kundan Kumar’s mother Usha at the family home in Jakkopur village in Bihar’s Vaishali. (Express photo: Himanshu Harsh)
Says Virendra Rai, another village resident: “He (the suspect) first pushed Kundan. When he fell down, he stomped on his head three-four times.”
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By the time the family reached the spot, Kundan had fainted. “His face was swollen. One of his eyes had turned blue. His head was badly injured and bleeding,” his father, Braj Kishore Rai, says.
The family first took him to a village doctor who administered first aid. “As soon as he regained consciousness, he began vomiting,” Braj Kishore says. “We took him to Mahnar Community Health Centre. From there, he was referred to Hajipur Sadar Hospital. But doctors there said the injury was very serious and asked us to take him to PMCH (Patna Medical College and Hospital) for advanced treatment. There, he was declared brought dead.”
At the family’s home – a single blue room painted recently by Kundan, three wooden cots covered with mosquito nets under a makeshift bamboo structure, a stack of hay, a single hand pump, no washroom and no television – the loss of Kundan means everything. The family relies on income from cattle, supplemented by what they can grow on their land and, occasionally, daily wage work.
And Kundan played a huge role in the family. Having left education after Class 5 at a government school in Fatehpur Kamali, it was Kundan who would wake at the break of dawn each morning and accompany his grandfather Arjun Rai to their one-acre paddy farm. It was he who would return home with two large bundles of freshly cut grass for the family’s three cows, bathe and feed them. He would spend the rest of the day helping his family – his grandfather, parents, an older brother Chandan, and two younger sisters.
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“Kundan would milk the cows in the evening and deliver that milk to a few places,” Arjun recalls as he gathers hay around the chopping machine – this time without Kundan. “After that, he would linger outside for a while to play before returning home. Most of the household work was done by him. He never allowed me to do anything.”
Arjun Rai feeding the cows at his home in Jakkopur village in Bihar’s Vaishali. Express photo: (Himanshu Harsh)
Villagers say Kundan was well-loved. At the family home, his relative Baidhyanath describes him as “very curious” and “sensible”. “Whenever he saw people looking at their phones, he would sit nearby to see what they were watching,” he says.
His uncle Naresh Rai adds, “He did not have friends in the conventional sense. But he was always ready to help anyone in the village.”
About the suspect, village residents describe him as short-tempered and “a little moody”.
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According to the police, the investigation so far suggests the violence may have occurred in the heat of the moment and that neither side has any known criminal history.
Describing the incident as tragic, Vaishali Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikram Sihag said teams are searching for the accused. “Continuous raids are being conducted at possible hideouts and at the houses of relatives who are also being questioned. Special teams have been formed and efforts are underway to make an arrest at the earliest,” he says.
For the family, there’s now a void. Since his death, no one has gone out to cut fresh grass for the cattle.
As nightfall nears and the sun moves closer to the horizon, Kundan’s older brother Chandan Kumar carries some hay to feed the animals. Watching, Arjun talks about how Kundan would not allow him to go to the fields during the monsoon.
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“When the fields were filled with water, Kundan would, through gestures, tell me to stay on dry land, and he would cut the grass himself. He would also accompany me whenever I went out. Now I have to get used to doing it all without him,” he says.
