She was a fan of Punjabi songs, enjoyed making Instagram reels and loved doing make-up. 20-year-old Anjali Singh was like any other young woman her age. A dedicated sister to five siblings and a sole breadwinner burdened with many responsibilities.
In the early hours of Sunday, as she rode her scooter home from work on a dimly-lit stretch, Anjali’s two-wheeler was hit by a Baleno that had five men in their 20s, and her body was dragged under the vehicle for over 10 km.
For her family, Anjali’s death means losing their pole star. She lost her father almost nine years ago, and her mother suffers from kidney issues. This prompted Anjali to drop out of school in Class 10, so she could financially support the family.
Such was the condition of her body — having been dragged for kilometres — that her mother Rekha almost fainted on seeing it. The skin had been scraped off her back, and her clothes were completely torn. “I had a beautiful daughter. I can’t explain what I saw in the mortuary. She was my everything,” said Rekha, who used to work as a helper at a private school until three years ago.
The family said her main job was to welcome guests, arrange flowers and help brides with make-up and dressing. She had also worked part-time at small salons to earn extra money, but lost those gigs due to the pandemic-induced lockdown.
Her scooter which met with an accident, a TVS Jupiter, was her first gift to herself.
Anjali loved designing clothes and was known in the family as the life of every party. Her Instagram ID, which has now been blocked, was full of reels of her dancing or lip syncing to songs.
Her family said that she wanted to save enough to take a course as a beautician and become self-sufficient.
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