Kolkata: Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of rupees three lakh and a job for the Rajsamand hate-crime victim from Malda. Mohammed Afrazul (Ifrazul), a labour contractor from Malda, had been hacked and set ablaze by one Shambhu Lal, just for his religious identity.
The incident shocked the nation, with the accused circulating a blood curdling video of the brutal murder on social media, warning Hindu women to not fall into the trap of love-jihad and also threatened Muslim men with a similar fate as that of Afrazul.
Mamata had condemned the act and had even raised the issue during her meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who had been visiting Bengal yesterday. Today, she tweeted, “Very sad incident happened in Rajasthan. Afrazul Khan of Malda of our state was brutally killed. His family is totally helpless. As a small help to the bereaved family, our government has decided to provide Rs 3 lakh to the family and also one job to the eligible person of the victim’s family.”
“Other help from the government will also be provided. I am sending our team of ministers and MPs to visit the family.
Confirming about it, social activist Samirul Islam said, “The officials have reached Afrazul’s house and have conveyed the announcement of chief minister.”
In another development, Chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra also expressed shock on the heinous crime, and demanded swift justice in the case.
“I first turned my eyes away from the video and was about to scroll away from it. And then I realised that by not acknowledging the reality of the video, I would share the collective guilt of a society that does not battle its own demons,” he wrote on Twitter.
But both Mamata and Mahindra were trolled for their support and concern.
However, Mahindra replied back to his trolls and said, had he turned his eye off from such acts, he would share collective guilt of the society.
While at Afrazul’s village in Malda, his dead body reached late in the evening and the last rites got performed after the Isha namaaz (last prayer of the day for Muslims). Thousands of people took part in the last journey of Afrazul. “Such large number of people had not been gathered for anyone in this village in last 100 years. People came from traveling several kilometers to participate in it and waited till burial get done,” said Nasimur Rahman, a Malda resident.
All the major political parties of Bengal including TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, CPM, Congress, CPI-ML protested against the killing in Kolkata on Friday.
While on December 10, Bangla Sanskriti Manch and Right to Life Foundation will organize silent protest march against the brutal killing in Kaliachak, Malda and Jadhavpur, Kolkata, simultaneously.
