Family of father, son killed in Murshidabad violence declines compensation by West Bengal govt

Kolkata, April 17 (IANS) The family members of Hargobindo Das and Chandan Das, the father and son killed in the violence in Murshidabad district of West Bengal last week in which three people died, have declined the compensation offered by the state government.

Last week riot-like situations surfaced in different pockets of minority-dominated Murshidabad district after protests over the newly-promulgated Waqf (Amendment) Act turned violent.

As per the complaint filed by the family members of the deceased father and son, residents of Samserganj in Murshidabad district, a group of protesters entered their residence on the morning of April 12.

They reportedly hacked the two men to death in front of their family members.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing a meeting with the Imams, Muezzins, and religious leaders from the Muslim community on the impact and protests of the Waqf Act, announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for each family of the victims of the violence.

However, a day after the announcement by CM Mamata Banerjee on this count, the other members of the Das family have clearly said that they will not be accepting the compensation offered by the state government as announced by the Chief Minister.

"Had the police reached in time, probably they would have survived. Now they are gone and will never come back. So what will we do with the compensation now? No compensation is enough for the two valuable lives for us,” said a member of the family.

They claimed that although the situation had started becoming normal in pockets of Murshidabad following the deployment of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel since the night of April 12, an air of fear was still prevailing at Samserganj.

The impact of the fear, said the family member of the victims, could be felt on the ‘Shradh (post-death rituals)’ of the deceased father and the son on April 15.

“The priests and barber, whose presence is mandatory in such a ritual, did not turn up out of fear,” he added.

Meanwhile, a team of the National Commission of Women (NCW), which took a suo motu cognisance of the violence at Murshidabad in which three people died, is arriving in Kolkata.

On Friday and Saturday, they would be interacting with the women members of those families who were displaced from their homes following the violence.

The NCW team will also hold meetings with the Murshidabad District Magistrate and district police superintendent.

--IANS

src/rad