Two lives have ended leaving behind their near and dear ones in limbo. Trauma of the family members of deceased Muhammad Majloom and Azad Khan alias Ibrahim
has only worsened with Taraannum, the nine-year-old daughter of the former, dropping out of the village Government school.
Majloom (35) and Ibrahim (12), were reportedly subjected to inhuman torture before being killed and hanged from a tree allegedly for cattle trade at Jhabbar village under Balumath police station of latehar district on March 18.
“Tarrannum has stopped attending the school out of fear, trauma and uncertainty over future of the family.
Father of Ibrahim is ill and his leg is broken,” said Munnauar Ansari, brother of Majloom narrating the ordeal of the affected families to The Pioneer on Friday.
Following the incident that brought attention of the national media and Government to lesser known Balumath, eight people have been either arrested or surrendered before the police and have been sent behind bars. However, the follow-up action could not bring any sense of security to the traumatised.
“Their arrest seems a farce to me. All those arrested are rich and influential people having connection with right wing leaders from Jhabbar, Ichak and Balumath. looking at the track record, it seems just matter of some time when they are going to be set free. We feel frightened and have stopped traveling to Balumath,” said Ansari.
Police have arrested Mithilesh Sahu, Pramod Sahu, Manoj Kumar Sahu, Awadshesh Sao and Manoj Sahu following the horrifying lynching.
Apart from safety and security, there is no respite on livelihood front to the two families suffering from abject poverty and deprivation at the same time.
According to sources, their insecurity arises from the fact that they belong to a minority community, which they feel is the reason behind the Government cold shouldering their cause
“It is getting difficult to meet even basic needs of the members. Majloom has left behind five children besides the widow. Ibrahim was also the only breadwinner of his elderly parents. We got some monetary assistance from few political leaders but still awaiting any thing concrete from the Government side. Just offering few bucks is not going to sustain the headless families for long,” added Ansari.
The shocking incident saw some political parties such as Congress and JVM jumping off to gain instant sympathy whereas offer from the Government after Chief Minister Raghubar Das intervened was rejected by the families terming it too little. “The families feel that mere few lakh of rupees is not sufficed and the Government should provide jobs to them so that they can sustain in the long run. Till date no assurance in this regard has come,” said a local social worker Irfan.
On its part, the latehar District Administration is counting on helping hand it has offered to the aggrieved families. “As per the direction we have offered Rs one lakh as immediate assistance to the families. Besides, they are being covered under the available social security schemes. They have been given household items. As far as their demand for job is concerned, we can offer the widow with Sevika at anganwadi center in due process,” replied Ravi Shankar Shukla, Deputy Commissioner of latehar.
When asked about Tarrannum’s fate, the DC assured to look into the matter while adding that the administration would try to admit her into nearby Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in a day to two.