Hours before he was allegedly beaten to death in Odisha, migrant labourer Juel Rana, 21, spoke over the phone to his mother about rebuilding their crumbling house and his wish to get married once the house was repaired.
By Thursday, the last conversation turned into an unbearable memory for Najema Biwi, 42, as she waited for her son’s mortal remains.
Sitting in the courtyard of her dilapidated house at Chak Bahadurpur village in Murshidabad's Suti, Najema broke down as she recalled her son’s struggles and aspirations.
“My son took all responsibility on his shoulders after he began working as a mason in Odisha. The poor condition of our house often haunted him. His father could not do much with his feeble income, so my son was planning to reconstruct our home after returning this time,” she said.
“He wanted to put a concrete roof over our heads. He want to get married. But everything has been shattered. I do not know what crime he committed that people punished him so brutally,” she wept.
Najema said her son had told her that the situation in Odisha had changed drastically in recent times and that migrant workers were living in fear.
“He told me that attacks on Muslim labourers by branding them as Bangladeshis had scared them all,” she said.
According to her, Juel reached Sambalpur on December 21.
“On December 22, some people wearing saffron attire came to their rented house and threatened them to vacate the place. They ignored it and resumed work. But on Wednesday night, they came again and carried out a deadly attack,” she said, appealing to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to ensure justice and financial aid to her family.
Najema, the wife of an ailing bidi worker Jiyal Haque, 47, said their survival had now become uncertain. “I do not know how we will live now,” she said.
Jiyal repeatedly questioned the brutality of the killing. “My son was not a criminal. He never did any illegal work. Then why was he beaten so brutally?” he asked.
