Yet another word of assurance came for the aggrieved families of Muhammad Majloom and Azad Khan alias Ibrahim who were subjected to allegedly ‘hang-till-death’ from a tree at Jhabbar village under Balumath police station of latehar district on March 18.
A two-member team of National Commission for Minorities visited the two villages and met the family members of the victims to take a feel of their trauma and anguish on Wednesday. The team comprising its members Prof Farida Abdulla Khan and Capt Praveen Davar assured them of all assistance.
“We have been confronted with the pain and grievances of the families whose members were brutally killed. We are here to know their issues following the unfortunate incident. I on behalf of the Minority Commission have assured them to take the matter to a logical end. We would submit a report to the Prime Minister’s Office, Home Ministry and also to the State Government soon,” said Farida Abdulla Khan after visiting Nabada and Arahara villages.
Muhammad Majloom and Azad Khan were reportedly killed by a crowd of locals alleged for bovine trade and their bodies later found swinging at a tree branch next morning. However, the persons behind the bars are yet to be chargesheeted.
On their part, the families recalled the horror tale to the Commission while explaining reasons behind their anguish against the district administration and the State Government. “They put forth some of their demands like CBI probe into the incident, jobs for the family members, adequate compensation and tough action against the culprits. The team requested them to accept Rs one lakh as compensation from the State Government but they refused,” said Kameshwar Narayan, SDM of Balumath present there.
When asked whether they have found any inaction on the part of the State Government prima facie, the team refused to comment and instead said that it had got to know about truth behind and would exert pressure for action against the culprits through its fact finding report addressed to the Centre as well as Jharkhand Government in due course of time. The team also met Taraannum and Tabbashum, the minor daughters of Majloom who have been admitted to Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Balumath. Both the girls had previously stopped attending the village school out of fear and insecurity but after the matter got reported, Deputy Commissioner of latehar ensured their admission in the residential girl school.