Hang father’s killer, or bring him back to life: Daughter CM Raje, home minister should quit: Rights groups
GORY END Md Afrazul called wife hours before he was killed, burnt
MALDA: The family of a 50-year-old migrant labourer from West Bengal, who was allegedly hacked with a farm equipment before being burnt alive in Rajasthan, on Thursday demanded that the accused be publicly hanged. Rajasthan Police arrested the accused, Shambu Lal Regar, hours after a video of the gruesome crime that he uploaded on social media went viral.
“The government should hang my father’s killer. If they can’t do it, they should bring him back to life,” said Rezina Khatun, victim Mohammed Afrazul’s daughter.
Afrazul, a resident of Sayedpur village in Kaliachak area of Malda — more than 310km from Kolkata — was working as a labourer in Rajasthan for the past 20 years and used to regularly send money to his mother, wife, and three daughters.
Afrazul called his wife on Wednesday morning, hours before he was killed, and told her that he would transfer funds for the family. Two of his three daughters are married and the third was supposed to get married in two months.
“The man who killed my father called him on the pretext of giving him some job at his home. He followed my father and attacked him from behind,” said Rezina.
An unemployed man, Regar is purportedly seen in the video hitting Afrazul, pouring petrol over him, and setting him on fire. Regar, and his nephew who shot the videos, have been arrested.
“It is clear Afrazul was killed as he was a Muslim. The culprit should be punished severely so that it works as a deterrent,” said Jewel Sheikh, a neighbour.
Islam’s wife, Gul Bahar Bibi, said, “Yesterday (Wednesday), we got news that he was murdered. I am sure he had no love affair with anyone. I want the culprits to be hanged publicly. I don’t know how I will arrange money for the marriage of my daughter.’
Afrazul’s nephew, Inaul Sheikh, said his only vice was smoking bidis. “Go to the labour market at Jhal Chakki and ask the people there who have seen him for the past 12-13 years. They will tell you what kind of a person he was,” Inaul adds.
The incident also led to a political backlash in the state. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on Twitter: “We strongly condemn the heinous killing of a labourer from Bengal in Rajasthan. How can people be so inhuman. Sad.”
Asked to comment on the ‘love jihad’ murder, home minister Rajnath Singh, in Kolkata at the state secretariat, said, “I cannot answer a political question.” JAIPUR: Several rights groups on Thursday demanded the resignation of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and home minister Gulab Chand Kataria for failing to prevent a series of hate crimes targeting Muslims, including the murder of a migrant labourer in the state’s Rajsamand district.
In a joint statement, the organisations said Raje and Kataria were allegedly giving impunity to the accused of targeted attacks on Muslims. The organisations that issued the statement include the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, National Federation of Indian Women, All India Democratic Women’s Association and National Muslim Women Welfare Society.
“Although the police have arrested the murderer Shambhu Lal Regar and the nephew who had shot the video, but it is important to reach the people who motivated him to carry out this murder,” it read. The statement said this was the fourth killing in last nine months.