‘I Didn’t Want Him in CRPF’: Plight of Mother Whose Son Is in Coma

Twenty eight-year-old CRPF Jawan Jitendra Kumar was lying in the corner of a general ward in a private hospital in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. His mother, Rupa Devi, was holding his face close to hers.

Jitendra, however, could barely move his eyes. He was constantly gasping for breath. A food pipe was attached to his stomach.

Pehle 3-4 mahine se phir bhi thoda behtar hai. Eye hilata hai. (In the last 3-4 months, we have been seeing some improvement. Now he moves his eyes.)

Rupa Devi, Jitendra’s Mother

Just to show that Jitendra still has sensation, his mother pinches him on the hand, and he instantly flicks it off. But the rest of his body is still unresponsive.

Constable Jitendra was injured in a landmine blast in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. Five jawans, travelling with him in the van, died in the blast that day in 2014.

Since then, Jitendra has been in a coma lasting 30 months. For the first two years, he was admitted in a hospital in Raipur. Early this year, he was shifted to a private hospital in Noida, which is listed in the panel of the CRPF.

‘I Didn’t Want Him to Join the Security Forces’

His inconsolable mother asks him, “Look this way, my child. Look here, it's me, your mother!”. Jitendra, who can probably hear her, moves his eyes in response.

I tried to dissuade him from joining the CRPF. But he was conscious of the fact that we are very poor. He is the breadwinner of our family. I will never send him back to the CRPF.

Rupa Devi, Jitendra’s Mother

Unhappy with the medical facilities provided by the CRPF, his mother says she wanted her son to be treated in AIIMS hospital, but that didn’t happen.

He was shifted here after 21 months in a sparsely equipped hospital in Raipur. We were first told that he will be treated in AIIMS. But he was admitted to Prakash hospital in Noida. Initially one doctor treated him, now another does. We are told he will be fine in a year’s time.

Rupa Devi, Jitendra’s Mother

The biggest CRPF hospital is on the outskirts of Delhi, has minimal medical facilities and only 100 beds.

Armymen get all the facilities they require. The CRPF, however, is deprived of good medical facilities. 

Rupa Devi, Jitendra’s Mother

There are over three lakh CRPF jawans out of eight lakh paramilitary forces in the country. Due to a lack of their own medical facilities, the CRPF depends on government hospitals and a few private hospitals for the treatment of their jawans.

‘He Will Never Regain 100 Percent Normalcy,’ Says Doctor

According to the doctor, Jitendra was on a ventilator when he was brought to the Noida hospital, and has now been taken off it. Still, his improvement is slow.

Physically, he will never be 100 percent normal. We will discharge him from the hospital once he is able to eat using his mouth and breathe normally.

Dr VS Solanki, Prakash hospital

The Quint has learnt from senior CRPF officers that currently Jitendra is getting his full salary of Rs 26,000 per month. His medical expenses are also covered by the government. But once he is discharged from the hospital, the CRPF doctors will examine his fitness. There is a high possibility that he will then be declared unfit to join duty. If so, his troubles will only be compounded in the future.

If Jitendra is declared unfit for duty by the doctor, he will be removed from the service. He will be entitled to Rs 16,900 per month and will be allowed medical treatment in CRPF empanelled hospitals. 

Senior CRPF officer

Jitendra has two siblings, a brother and a sister, who live in a village in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The marriage of her daughter is now a major worry for Rupa Devi.

I had planned to get him married after my daughter’s wedding. We were supposed to wed her off in 2015. But 2014 brought this horrific tragedy upon us. 

Rupa Devi, Jitendra’s Mother

The CRPF is deployed in conflict zones such as Naxal-affected states, Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast. This year alone, by September, 29 CRPF jawans have died.

It’s time the government start providing paramilitary forces with facilities equal to those provided to the Army.

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam