The News Minute | September 29, 2014 | 6 pm ISTKavita Karkare is no more. She passed away this afternoon following a brain hemorrhage. She leaves behind two daughters who have decided to donate their mother’s organs. She was the spouse of Hemant Karkare, Chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra killed in the 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai. “I feel I have lost an elder sister – she gave me courage to go on, fight the system that was unjust so we could help others in the same situation,” Vinita Kamte, wife of Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte who was also killed on 26/11 along with Vijay Salaskar told The News Minute (TNM). “Ms. Salaskar was just telling me that the authorities in Maharashtra wouldn’t bother to invite Kavita on August 15th or 26th January when wives of other martyrs were invited – she felt bad, but she plodded on.” Amte said it was Karkare who ensured that TukaramOmbale’s wife got the right pension after her husband Constable Ombale was killed. He was the man who had caught AjmalKasab. In her book “To The Last Bullet” (co-authored by journalist and RTI activist Vinita Deshmukh) Kamte tells the story of negligence that led to the deaths of the three officers and the cover-up that followed. Documentary evidence to establish this was secured through the Right to Information (RTI) act. In a foreword for the book Karkare wrote the following line. “Being a police officer’s wife, I have always believed that it is a crime to suffer injustice…I have always seen my husband’s leadership through the years and was therefore surprised when doubts were raised in this particular incident wherein he along with Ashok and Mr. Vijay Salarkar dared to take on terrorists without support of reinforcement from the Mumbai Police despite repeated requests by him. For several days, I was being fed misinformation regarding the death of my husband.”It takes more than words and headlines for any individual to take on an unjust system that killed someone they loved so others will get a better life.Karkare was one such person.
