Tarishi Jain: A good badminton player who helped poor

LUCKNOW: Tarishi Jain's last rites will be performed in Gurgaon and not in her native Firozabad, her uncle Rajeev Jain said on Sunday.

Her father, Sanjiv Jain, had requested the government of India whether the body of the 19-year-old, killed in the terror strike on an upscale Dhaka café, could be flown down to Agra so it could be easily be taken to Firozabad, Rajeev told this newspaper. But things had not worked out, he said.

"The distance from Agra to Firozabad is only 50km. We don't know why it could not happen. So it has been decided that she will be brought from Dhaka to New Delhi. From there, it will be more convenient to take her to Gurgaon, which is barely 30km away," he said.



Sanjiv has a flat in Park View Apartments near Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon.

Tarishi's body is scheduled to land at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport around 12.30pm today. It will be accompanied by Sanjiv, mother Tulika and older brother Sanchit.

"We didn't want to keep the body for too long. It takes six-seven hours to reach Firozabad from Delhi airport. We cannot take her to the cremation ground at 7pm. So, we will cremate her in Gurgaon. Over a dozen family members are leaving for Delhi tonight by car," Rajeev said.

The Jain family also issued a statement this evening: "The mortal remains of our dearest, most loving daughter Tarishi will reach tomorrow at around 2pm at the Community Centre, Arjun Marg, DLF, Phase-1. After rituals, Tarishi will move for last journey to NH 8, Shiv Murti Cremation Ground, Sector 29, Gurgaon. The last rites will be performed at around 5.30pm onwards."

Cousin speaks

Tarishi's cousin Saloni, the daughter of her father's younger brother Rakesh Mohan Jain, today said she had been a very good badminton player and had won many national tournaments in Bangladesh.

"Tarishi won a dozen medals in the last five-six years. She wanted to play more but got injured during a tournament in Dhaka this May. There was some problem with the ligaments in her left leg. So, she stopped practising on the advice of her doctors," Saloni said over phone from Firozabad.

Saloni said she and Tarishi, who was three months older to her, had been very good friends. Only a few days ago, Tarishi had sent her a message congratulating her for getting through to the Moradabad College of MBBS and BDS, she said.

"Tarishi loved wearing her hair in different styles. She used to eat very slowly. Whenever we asked her the reason, she would say that she might get tired if she ate quickly. She also used to help poor people. She had donated many things to the poor kids of a school in Dhaka on July 1. But all this happened the next day."