By Mirza Mosaraf Hossain, TwoCircles.net
Communal tensions in Baduria and Basirhat may have ebbed since July, but the effects are still being felt by the people in the region especially two Muslim families.
During the riots, Alamgir Mondal, 26, and Arafat Gharami, 21, went missing and although it has been a month, the police are yet to even start an investigation in this regard. The lack of effort on the part of the Police also busts the right-wing narrative of the riots which sought to blame Muslims for all the damage and tried to show only Hindus as the victims.
Alamgir Mondal worked as a labourer and belonged to the Akipur village of Basirhat block in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas. On July 4, when Baduria was simmering with communal tension after the controversial Facebook post, he stepped out for work to the nearby village of Tapatchar, which is under Harishpur police station. After that day, he never came back home.
The missing of Alamgir, who was raised by his maternal grandmother and uncles after the death of his parents when he was still young, has caused much pain and tension to his family especially his newly-wedded wife. They have searched every hospital and even morgues hoping that they would get at least his dead boy, but all in vain.
Babar Ali Mondal, the maternal uncle of Alamgir Mondal, spoke to TwoCircles.net. “When we approached the Basirhat Police station on July 5 to file a missing diary, they paid no attention to our matter and instead abused us, saying that he must be hiding somewhere due to family issues. When we failed to search him in various hospitals from Basirhat to Kolkata, again we went to the police station and then on 9th July a missing diary was filed,” he said.
Mariyam Bibi, the 75-year-old grandmother of Alamgir, said, “I reared him since the time when he was two years old. He used to call me mother. Now he, an orphan, has gone missing and made me an orphan.”
Sumaiya Bibi, the 19-year-old wife of Alamgir, said, “Why is police not investigating it as a murder case as they claimed my husband must have been killed in Basirhat riot? Will we not get his dead body? Will we not get justice?” She was sobbing frequently during this interview over the phone.
On the same day as Alamgir, another Muslim boy, Arafat Gharami from Garakupi village under the Hasanabad block, went to buy some material for his father’s cycle repairing shop to Basirhat. But he never came back after that. Arafat, the elder son of Emadul Gharami, used to help his father in the cycle repairing shop at the village local market. His sudden disappearance has brought his family’s life to a complete standstill.
Sarafat Gharami, the younger brother of Arafat, who runs a tailor shop in the village, said, “We filed a missing diary for my brother on July 8 at the local police station. Though they ensured they will be investigating my brother’s disappearance, it has been a month since his disappearance but no news of him still now traced.” Arafat and Sarafat’s mother was too inconsolable to speak with the media.
Fatema Mondal, Arafat’s paternal aunt, said, “We searched each and every hospital and morgue of Basirhat and P.G Hospital, R.G Kar Hospital, NRS Hospital of Kolkata for Arafat’s body. But nowhere could he be traced. The Superintendent of NRS Hospital showed us their Register Book when we claimed that we have news that his body is kept here in the morgue. But when we checked both the Register Book and morgue, we could not find him.” She fears that Arafat’s body might have been buried in order to suppress criminal investigation as his murder is instigated by communal tension.