Said brother of Reuben Fernandez at his funeral attended by thousands of mourners; the 29-yr-old died 11 days after a gang of goons stabbed him
Said brother of Reuben Fernandez at his funeral attended by thousands of mourners; the 29-yr-old died 11 days after a gang of goons stabbed him
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"God calls only the young ones who are dear to him. Although these are testing times for our family, we will always be bonded by Reuben's memories," said his father Ronnie at the funeral service.
Benjamin (right) with Reuben during a trip to Goa this year. File pic
Reuben's younger brother, Benjamin, who was by his elder brother's side throughout the 11 days he was battling for life in the hospital, said tearfully, "I will always miss you my brother... I cannot believe that Reuben is no more. He was the most courageous person I have ever known. He always taught me compassion and wouldn't tolerate any thing wrong happening to his family."
Online tributes
With the momentum for justice gathering pace, friends of Reuben, and Keenan Santos, who also lost his life in the altercation on October 20, created a Facebook page called 'Keenan Santos' which has 19,000 members, demanding justice for the brutal deaths of the duo.
"Reuben could not tolerate injustice. On that fateful night when the goons stabbed Santos, Reuben stepped
forward and defended Santos saying, 'Hit me, why are you hitting him?' The gang retaliated and stabbed him brutally in the stomach. Reuben bore the blows but stayed put and did not let the goons harm the girls who were with them," said one of Reuben's friends. Reuben, who had graduated from Thakur Polytechnic was the only earning member in his family.
The incident
On October 20, Reuben and Keenan were stabbed by a group of hoodlums at a paan shop outside a restaurant in Amboli while they were defending the girls in their group from some lewd men. While Keenan died a few hours later in hospital, Reuben breathed his last on Monday. The D N Nagar police had arrested the four accused, and the magistrate remanded them to 14 days in custody.
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