Rajasthan 'love jihad' case: TMC, Congress leaders meet kin of slain labourer Mohammad Afrazul

Malda: A five-member TMC team on Saturday visited the Sayadpur house of Mohammad Afrazul, the labourer from West Bengal’s Malda district who was hacked and burnt to death in Rajasthan. [caption id=“attachment_4250913” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Shambhu Lal Raigar. Youtube screengrab[/caption] The team comprised ministers Firhad Hakim and Subhendu Adhikari and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Saugata Roy, Sudip Banerjee and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar. They handed over Rs 2 lakh on behalf of the TMC to Afrazul’s wife Gulbahar and his daughters, and assured them all help. The leaders also addressed a gathering and condemned the gruesome killing, describing the act as “inhuman”. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already announced that the state government would provide Rs 3 lakh and a job to the family , Adhikari said. A condolence meeting was also held in memory of the deceased labourer. Afrazul was hacked and burnt to death in Rajsamand earlier this week by Shambhu Lal Raigar, who was seen ranting against ’love jihad’ in a video that was shot and uploaded on the internet by his minor nephew. Love jihad is a term used by sections of Hindu activists to describe marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men. Raigar was on Friday sent to three days in police custody and his nephew to a juvenile home by a court in Rajsamand even as Banerjee demanded “exemplary action” against him, calling the incident “very sad”. She had also asked the state’s director general of police to speak to his Rajasthan counterpart and ensure security to nearly 3,500 labourers from West Bengal working in that state. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury and the party’s Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacherjee also met Afrazul’s family and assured them all assistance.