The last rites of Juyel Sheikh aka Juyel Rana, 21, a migrant labourer from Murshidabad who had allegedly been killed by suspected Hindutva activists in Odisha for being a "Bangladeshi", were performed on Friday afternoon amid mounting demands for justice.
Hundreds of villagers bid a tearful farewell to the slain youth and voiced their grievance against the Bengal government for not registering its protest.
Juyel's body was laid to rest at a graveyard in Chak Bahadurpur village under the jurisdiction of the Suti police station.
Suti MLA Emani Biswas, CPM district secretary Jamir Mollah, Bengal Congress spokesperson Hasanuzzaman, senior local administrative officials and a large number of residents were present during the burial.
Mezarul Sheikh, Juyel's neighbour and local panchayat member, said: “It is shocking to see that the Bengal government has not yet spoken to the Odisha government on this issue. We expected chief minister Mamata Banerjee to at least call up her Odisha counterpart Mohan Charan Majhi to condemn the incident, seek a proper probe and demand protection for migrant Muslim workers, who are repeatedly being branded as Bangladeshis and tortured.”
The Trinamool Congress had condemned the youth's murder at the political level.
According to the family, a group of suspected Hindutva youths allegedly barged into the house where Juyel and other migrant workers were staying in Sambalpur district of Odisha and assaulted them brutally on Wednesday night. Juyel's mother, Najema Biwi, 42, told mediapersons on Thursday that the attackers had first branded her son as a Bangladeshi, asked for his Aadhaar card and hit him with a rod.
Sambalpur police, however, claimed that the migrant workers from Bengal were beaten up when they refused to meet their demand for bidi and cash. The Samabalpur police have arrested six labourers for the murder, but rejected allegations about the involvement of any political party.
Juyel and two others — Ashik Sheikh and Palsh Sheikh — were taken to the Mudulipada hospital in Sambalpur with severe head injuries. Hospital authorities declared Juyel dead on arrival, while the injured are undergoing treatment.
After the post-mortem was conducted in Sambalpur, the family brought Juyel's body to Murshidabad on Thursday evening. The body reached Chak Bahadurpur around 10.30am on Friday. The burial was held around 1.30pm, following Friday prayers, leading to a brief delay in the final rites.
Juyel's father, Jiyal Haque, a 47-year-old bidi worker, struggled to hold back tears as he spoke about his loss.
“I cannot accept the death of my only son like this. If my son had committed any crime and had been punished for that, I would not have objected. But he was innocent, and I want those who killed him to be punished,” he said. “I am a bidi worker, and now I am suffering from respiratory problems and cannot make bidis properly. My son was the only earning member of the family. All my son’s dreams have been shattered, leaving us completely helpless.”
CPM district secretary Jamir Mollah accused the Bengal government of failing to generate adequate employment opportunities, which, he said, forced youths like Juyel to seek work outside Bengal.
“The state government has failed to provide jobs to the youth. In fact, there is hardly any work here, and even existing jobs yield very little pay compared to other states. This pushes people to migrate, especially to BJP-ruled states, where they often face trouble,” Mollah said.
“Unfortunately, the state government has lost its voice to protest such incidents and rarely takes up these issues with the governments concerned,” he added.
State Congress spokesperson Hasanuzzaman went a step further, alleging a tacit understanding between Trinamool and the BJP over such incidents.
“We have repeatedly said that there is an understanding between the BJP and Trinamool. Because of this, even when migrant workers from our state are oppressed in BJP-ruled states, there is no official protest. Ironically, ruling party leaders visit the bereaved families and express sympathy, which is nothing but double standards and sheer hypocrisy,” he said.