Mourning and Rizwanur’s Grave
A ritual of mourning -
- “I CANNOT FORGET KAKKU AND THIS IS MY PLIGHT”, SOBS MOTHER
Rizwanur Rahman’s brother Rukbanur with relatives and neighbours at his grave in Gobra, observing the Chaliswan (ritual to mark the 40th day of his death) a few days in advance on Sunday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta
Life’s Elsewhere: I am citing the news underneath to highlight few of the Hindu names who participated in the Chaliswan to mourn Rizwanur Rehman. This blog and our participation in the protest against Rizwanur’s death has invited lots of counter-discourses at best and trolls at worst from a fundamentalist Hindu point-of-view, which sometimes took the abominable extreme position of supporting Ashok Todi’s involvement, actual or suspected. The report following assures that not all Hindus support my vehement critics views.
News Source: The Telegraph, Oct 29
The hands that had prepared delicacies for Rizwanur Rahman on Sunday fed maulvis who had assembled at his Tiljala Lane house to pray for his soul. The occasion was Chaliswan, a mourning ritual to mark the 40th day of a person’s death (the Rahmans observed it three days in advance).
“I had never thought that a day like this would come in my life. I cannot forget Kakku (Rizwanur’s pet name) and this is my plight,” said 55-year-old Kishwar Jahan, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I thought my bahu (Priyanka) would come but she didn’t. She should have been present at the ritual to pray for her husband’s soul,” said the mother.
She was not crying alone. People from across the state came to meet the Rahmans at their house and express solidarity with the family in its hour of crisis.
Arindam Adhikary, a trader, came from Burdwan with his wife and two children to meet Rizwanur’s mother. The family brought incense sticks and flowers to lay on the grave of Rizwanur.
“We have been following the developments of the case through newspapers. It’s tragic the way Rizwanur was murdered. My wife and children had been asking me for the past two weeks to take them to meet Kishwar Jahan. She has become a symbol of courage,” said Adhikary, after meeting Rizwanur’s mother and his brother Rukbanur.
Mousami Das, a schoolteacher, came to 7B Tiljala Lane from Siliguri to stand by the bereaved family. “We now know what happens in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s oasis of peace. I can barely contain my tears when I see Rizwanur’s mother on television. I came to Calcutta only to meet the Rahmans and will return to Siliguri tomorrow. Everyone in the town has been following the case. We want justice for Rizwanur,” she said.
A large number of people from Calcutta also visited Tiljala Lane and gave flowers to the family members to lay on Rizwanur’s grave. In the afternoon, the Rahmans, accompanied by their relatives and neighbours, visited the burial ground in Gobra where Rizwanur had been laid to rest.
In the evening, the female members recited the Quran and offered namaz. Holding a photograph of Rizwanur, Rukbanur’s two-year-old daughter Zara asked: “Dadima, chacha aaj aayenge?” (Grandmother, will uncle come today?) Kishwar Jahan, clad in a printed white sari gifted by Rizwanur before Id last year, held the child and cried inconsolably.Cops summoned: The CBI has summoned the officer-in-charge of Karaya police station, Swapan Kumar Mitra, and two sub-inspectors, Pulak Dutta and Jayanta Mukherjee, for questioning on Monday. The agency has also called Rukbanur to record his statement again.
Rehman family demands Rizwanur’s grave be guarded
News Source: Merinews (Power to People), Oct 28
WITH THE possibility of a fresh autopsy after exhumation still not ruled out by the CBI, Rukbanur elder brother of Rizwanur Rehman has demanded that his grave be guarded.
More details coming to light, like purported SMS text messages, telephone calls to and from Rizwanur to colleagues, students, Priyanka and the Todis before he died, conflicting statements by the driver of a local, train, the involvement of realtors and muscle, offers of large sums of money and warning calls from Priyanka to her husband to lie low, have created a puzzling mosaic for the CBI investigating the mysterious death of the young graphic designer.
On Sunday a part time teacher at the Arena Muktimedia, Alpana Joli told the CBI that she had received a SMS from Rizwanur, which said ‘awaz uthana’. She said unable to understand, she had deleted the message. When she arrived at her work place and only when news of Rizwanur’s death reached Arena Multimedia did she tell her colleagues that she had received a SMS. They then concluded that he must have tied to write mere (jaane ke baad) awaz uthana. She told the Kolkata media today that that Rizwanur used to teach her at one stage and was a good member of the faculty. She said she did not know Priyanka and had no idea that the two were in love and had married.
There is a growing demand in Kolkata by civil society groups and the Rehman family that the CBI interrogate the police officers who had threatened and harassed the couple. Their contention is that many people have been questioned over a week but the police officers, who had no business interfering in the marriage of two adults have not yet been summoned by the CBI, though the CID had questioned them and concluded that their intervention was both illegal and unnecessary. The four police officers had accepted false cases from the Todis, harassed and threatened the couple at the family’s behest. The CBI has said that the Calcutta High Court had given the agency two months for the investigations and they are in no hurry.
With the media also having launched a parallel probe into the mysterious death alongside the CBI, lots of details are surfacing making the case more contentious by the day. Rizwanur, who had not been staying at his home after Priyanka was forced to leave him, for fear of arrest, was warned by his wife that her father Ashok Todi could send toughs after him. The call came on September 8 and was brief because she was afraid her phone was being tapped. She also told him the police might frame him on false charges, CBI officials have said. The call came when the graphics designer was at colleague Swapnil Sengupta’s home.
Rizwanur spent the nights from September 8 till the day he died on September 21 with several colleagues, the CBI probe has revealed. He kept changing the place where he stayed afraid of being attacked by criminal elements or arrested by the police.
Rizwanur spent two nights at Swapnil Sengupta’s home, three at Arup Guha’s and another two with Debraj Banerjee. All three were colleagues.
In a tragic tale of doomed love, Prkyanka was said to have asked Rizwnaur how long he could wait for her return. “For my entire life,” he was said to have replied. Swapnil overheard the conversation.
On the fateful day he called Swapnil twice. The first call was from a telephone booth and the second from his cell phone at 10.15 a.m. He promised to call him a third time after he finished talking to somebody on something important. The call came never came for he died soon after. The CBI is trying to find out whom he had met minutes before his death. His colleague, however, got the distinct impression he was determined to fight to get his wife back. There was no trace of depression in his voice.
The CBI is now trying to figure how out why he had gone to Patipukur where he was found dead.
Next: Priyanka’s Words
