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RIGHTS-INDIA: Muslim Youth&#39s Death May Cost Communists Dear

Sujoy Dhar

KOLKATA, Nov 7 2007 (IPS) - On a narrow lane in this city’s Muslim ghetto of Park Circus lives Kishar Jahan – a frail woman whose cry for justice following the suspected murder of her son who dared marry the daughter of a wealthy Hindu family, has caught West Bengal state’s ruling communists on the back foot.

Rizwanur Rahman, a computer graphics designer, was found dead with his head smashed in near the railway tracks on Sep. 21, after police interfered in his marriage to Priyanka Todi at the behest of her father Ashok Todi, a powerful Hindu businessman. Since then a spate of rallies and protests have rocked this city which has always prided itself for its intellectual and secular credentials.

"Mujhe insaf chahiye (I want justice)," said the frail woman, eyes blurred with tears for her 30-year-old son and her voice faint against the pop of flash bulbs from umpteen different news channels that have ensured that the ruling communist government, led by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, stays accountable.

Candlelight vigils, signature campaign, street plays, court battles and processions by both human rights groups and political parties have turned the mysterious death of Rizwanur into a national issue and questioned the partisan role of the police under a communist regime. Curiously, it was a Kolkata’s overweening police chief Prasun Mukherjee, said to be close to Bhattacharjee, who exposed the real face of the government at a press conference he called on Sep. 23, soon after the body was discovered. Mukherjee said Todi and his family were ‘’naturally’’ perturbed that Priyanka had married a Muslim from a low-income group.

Mukherjee had no qualms in admitting that the police had interrogated the couple and was involved in separating a legally married couple. "If the police won&#39t intervene, who will? The PWD (Public Works Department)?" he said sarcastically.

Mukherjee insisted that Rizwanur’s gruesome death was a case of suicide – though the postmortem report was then yet to be available.

The suicide theory was trashed by the family and rights groups which challenged a state police probe into the death and finally obtained an order for a federal inquiry (the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI) from the Calcutta High Court on Oct. 16, much to the embarrassment of the Bhattacharjee government.

The court order left the government with no choice but to remove Mukherjee and other police officials involved with the case.

One of the human rights groups that is at the forefront of the campaign is the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), which was approached by Rahman for help after the cops allegedly forced his wife to go back to her parents.

"This is a case of clear state interference in the conjugal life of an adult married couple. The two were legally married and police had no business to interfere. But they did," said Sujato Bhadra, secretary of APDR.

"We have no reason to believe that the youth had committed suicide since he was preparing for a long battle to get back his wife and had approached us for exactly that," said Bhadra who released letters from the victim accusing senior police officials of coercing him to opt out of the marriage or face imprisonment in false cases.

"Where are we living? Is it a police state? Can&#39t two adults get together because of religion?’’ asked eminent Bengali playwright and actor Saoli Mitra, one of those protesting against intimidation of Rehman by police, apparently on behalf of Todi.

For weeks, people moved by Rahman’s tragic death maintained a candlelight vigil outside the prestigious St. Xavier&#39s College where he had once studied.

A theatre group, which was prevented by police from formally staging a play on Rahman, took their show to the streets. ‘’Police called us up and threatened us,’’ said Chaitali Mullick of the theatre group Agnibina, which created the play ‘Bhalobashar Aarek Nam Rizwanur’ (The other name of love is Rizwanur).

"We are shocked that we could be prevented from staging this play,’’ said Mullick. The play portrays young love in the face of opposition from police and family members.

The court order to hand the case over to the CBI was seen as a stinging indictment of the communist government. "The agency (local police) had interrogated 56 witnesses without filing a case against anybody. When there are allegations against the police and authorities, the case should be investigated by the federal agency," the judge said.

The CBI investigation began with the registration of a murder case against the father-in- law of the victim and the sleuths grilled every police officer, Mukherjee downwards, whose name had figured in the case for intimidating the youth.

"The Calcutta High Court order for a CBI probe is a landmark judgment in the fight for democracy and social justice. But we will continue to fight till justice is finally done to the family," Bhadra said.

Kishar Jahan and her family members have become emboldened by popular interest in the case stimulated by civil society.

"Just after Rizwanur&#39s death, we were afraid to take any steps. But then, we felt his soul wouldn&#39t rest in peace if we didn&#39t fight for justice and gradually, we found support from everywhere, from media to the human rights groups to small children in the locality ,&#39&#39 said Akilur Rahman, one of Rizwanur&#39s uncles.

While murder is yet to be established, the case has damaged the image of the communists who have ruled West Bengal for a record 30 years, winning election after election on its socialist values that were best seen in the land reforms it effected in the state as well as union activities on behalf of workers.

But much of that is history and generally associated with the decades of rule under Bhattacharjee’s predecessor Jyoti Basu -India’s longest serving chief minister.

After Basu stepped down in 2000, West Bengal plunged headlong into economic reforms which quickly became unpopular, especially after Bhattacharjee allowed prime farming land to be converted into special economic zones.

The popularity of the communists, began to slide after police opened fire on farmers trying to protect their land from being acquired at Singur village in March, killing at least 14. The Rizwanur case cannot improve things for the communist government, Basu admitted publicly.