Grieving family members and relatives of Dr Pankaj Narang are hurt by the unnecessary politicisation of the issue.
Tushar Narang, a relative of the slain doctor — dragged out of his house and allegedly beaten to death with bats, iron roads and hockey sticks in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri area on the night of March 23 — posted on Facebook to express the family’s concern over the rumours of communal strings attached to the incident.
“A death in the family always hurt, what hurts more is when people use it as a political agendas and pit two, already volatile communities against each other. Hold responsible, the people indulged in act, not the whole community. Those who killed him weren’t out to kill Hindus…They were degraded scum who, I am sure wouldn’t have given second thoughts about killing someone belonging to their own religion,” Tushar stated.
Meanwhile, the ‘hullabaloo’ over communal angle attached to the murder of 40-year-old dentist seems unending as social media users remain at loggerheads with the Delhi Police’s denial of accused being Bangladesh immigrants.
Five accused people including Naseer (20), Amir (20), Ameer (22), Gopal (22) and Naseer’s mother Maesar in her 40s have already been arrested. Four juveniles were also detained by police.
Additional DCP-I of West district Monika Bhardwaj tweeted about the religious backgrounds of the accused clarifying five of them being Hindus. However, many in the social media are still not convinced. A new Facebook page was created in support of Narang: Justice for Dr Pankaj Narang. The page was flooded with comments criticising the Delhi Police incompetency. “The accused of Nirbhaya gang-rape was also told to be Hindu initially, to avoid ‘clashes.’…This time also, the Delhi Police has its gimmicks to call them Hindu just to hide the truth,” wrote user Madhur Mahna over Bhardwaj’s tweet.
The page with around 500 likes till the filing of the report has a post claiming that the one accused is from Bangladesh. A picture has also gone viral on Facebook showing that 35 Bangladesh Muslims killed Dr Narang.
Twitter too was active as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Utterly shameful n disgusting dat BJP/RSS tryng 2 communalise unfortunate murderof Dr Narang…People want peace not hatred.” To back him, Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra tweeted, “Why all those saying that Muslims have killed Dr Narang despite of clear statement by the Delhi Police…BJP polarising Delhi.”
Meanwhile, a user criticised Kejriwal over his unwillingness to meet Narang’s family and tweeted, “This man rushed to UP and Telangana without appointment. But not for a few minutes’ drive from home for Dr. Narang.” It is also been alleged that the AAP Government has promised to provide a Government job to the wife of Narang and a monetary relief . BJP activist Nupur Sharma however, tweeted, “#justicefordrnarang…@BJPDelhiSTate delegation met and assured full support to Dr Narang’s family.”