‘My son should not be treated as criminal’: Utsav’s father

VARANASI - S.K. Sharma, father of the youth who Tuesday attacked murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar’s father Rajesh Talwar outside a court in Ghaziabad, said his son “should not be treated as a criminal, considering his mental condition” and that he would now “prefer keeping him in confinement”.

“My son is suffering from depression since December 2007… Taking this into account, he should not be treated as a criminal for attacking the man (Talwar),” Sharma, a professor with the Banaras Hindu University’s (BHU) mechanical engineering department, told IANS on phone.

According to Sharma, he last spoke to Utsav Monday evening.

“I spoke to him (Utsav) last evening and he told me on phone that he would return after watching the Republic Day parade in Delhi. At that point of time, Utsav sounded normal,” Sharma said.

“I was shocked to know about my son’s behaviour today (Tuesday)… We will now have to verify whether my son had stopped taking medicines for depression,” he added.

Utsav, who attacked Talwar outside the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad, had earlier attacked and assaulted Haryana’s tainted former police chief S.P.S. Rathore in February 2010.

“Now, it appears we will have to keep him (Utsav) in confinement… We have no other option left other than this,” Sharma said.

“At the same time, we will now have to look for some other better treatment for Utsav. Presently, he is being treated in Ahmedabad. I will soon leave for Ghaziabad to put my son’s case before the police there,” he added.

Asked to comment on the statement given by the police that Utsav doesn’t appear to be mentally ill, Sharma retorted: “Ghaziabad police chief is not a medical expert… We have everything to prove that Utsav is not mentally stable.”

In February, after Utsav assaulted Rathore, Sharma had told reporters that his son used to say that he could not “tolerate injustice” and talked on such matters.