Saturday, October 13, 2007

Why did Kolkata police murder Rizwanur Rahman?

September 28, 2007 posted by indiatime |

Rizwanur Rahman was a 30-year old computer graphics teacher from Kolkata. He was also a muslim who fell in love with and married a Hindu girl Priyanka Todi, who happened to be the daughter of Ashok Todi, a member of the Todi multimillion dollar Lux hosiery brand (from the banned Lux Cozy underwears ads).

Priyanka eloped and married Rizwanur on August 18, but her family lodged a missing persons report and eventually an abduction complaint against Rizwanur. The Kolkata police started harassing him to return his wife back to her family. Priyanka did not want to go back to her family, but was told by the cops that her father was seriously ill. On september 8th, Rizwanur and Priyanka relented and she went back to live with her family for a week. The family however did not allow Priyanka to return back to Rizwanur.

STRONG PROTEST: Kolkatans are up in arms demanding justice for Rizwanur.

STRONG PROTEST: Kolkatans are up in arms demanding justice for Rizwanur.

On September 16, Rizwanur, realising that his wife would not be returned to him, sought help from APDR
(Association for Protection of Democratic Rights) - a human rights organisation (since he wasn't getting any help from the cops - in fact they were the ones pressuring him).

On September 21, Rizwanur Rahman was found dead, lying on the reilway tracks between Dum Dum and Bidhannagar stations. Within literally minutes, the Kolkata police chief had declared that Rizwanur Rahman had committed suicide . Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front and a member of the communist polit bureau, told the press that the police had no way of knowing that Rizwanur Rahman and Priyanka were a married couple (in fact the police had negotiated Priyanka's 1-week stay fully knowing about the marriage - if there were no marriage documents, the police would have arrested Rizwanur for abduction in the first place). After a week-long silence on the issue, the state chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee finally ordered an investigation in the police involvement of Rizwanur Rahman's death.

The perpetrators of this ghastly murder must face the brunt of the law with its full force. And the corrupt political establishment that encourages and backs up such inhuman crimes needs to be rooted out and thrown out into the Bay of Bengal. Any police or government that not only doesn't protect its citizens, but may turn out to be a perpetrating party or an abetting accomplice has no right to police or govern. Their only place in India is behind bars with their necks inside the gallows of justice.

http://www.indiatime.com

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