Bangalore: Over 26 Masjid Committees and several organisations of Surathkal came together on Friday on a single platform “Muslim Aikyatha Vedike Surathkal” demanding Justice for Masood and Fazil who were hacked to death by Hindutva extremists a gap of just 10 days in August.
On September 1st, the forum had put forward various demands in front of the Karnataka BJP government and had also given a time bound of 10 days. The forum had threatened to hold a massive protest if the demands were not fulfilled.
The BJP government instead of hearing the plea, just turned a blind eye. Even state home minister Araga Jnanendra in his written statement said that there has been no discussion made to grant any compensation to Masud or Fazil’s family and the primary investigation of Masud’s murder had found that it was not a planned attack.
Hence there was no need to transfer it to NIA and Fazil’s case was still under investigation, he had said.
On Friday the 16 September, Muslim Aikyatha Vedike Surathkal organised a massive protest condemning the discriminatory policy of the Karnataka BJP government.
Above 3000 protesters gathered near the Clock Tower in Mangalore around 4 pm
The protesters raised slogans against the state government’s discrimination in providing compensation to victims’ families and stringent action against the Hindutva outfits.
Addressing the gathering, Fazil’s father Umar Farooq told that his son was innocent and had no connection with any organisation. “When will justice prevail and where is it?” he asked.
Umar Farooq shed his tears saying “Nobody’s child should be murdered like this! We didn’t even get justice yet and the murder accused gets bail.” He further said that neither the district collector nor chief minister visited their house.
Yaqoob Sa’adi, a cleric and leader of the Sunni Students Federation (SSF) said that chief minister Bommai’s ‘action-reaction’ remark is the sole reason for communal riots in the district. “By delivering such irresponsible remarks, he himself has ignited the riots which are burning today with a series of murders,” he remarked.
AK Ashraf, Secretary of the PFI, while addressing the protestors, condemned the discrimination done by the state government and expressed his concern regarding the misuse of draconian laws like UAPA. “we don’t ask for chief minister Bommai’s ancestral inheritance; rather we are asking our rights- the amount paid by us through various taxes,” he said on the compensation demand.
“The accused in Fazil murder case who gave shelter to the murderers gets bail within 20 days of his arrest whereas IPC- 302 section was slapped on him. Its complete failure of police department in submitting proper investigative report to the court.” AK Ashraf quotes the discrimination where Praveen’s murder case was handed over to NIA whereas Masud & Fazil’s to local Police.
Later a memorandum was submitted to the Governor of Karnataka through the district collector with demands as followed;
1. Just as Praveen’s murder was investigated by NIA, Masud and Fazil’s murders should also be investigated by NIA.
2. A detailed investigation should be carried out on those who incited the murder of Masud and Fazil, those who aided the killers, and uncover the conspiracy behind these murders.
3. The people of the district have lost faith in the politically motivated and biased investigation of the police, hence these incidents should be investigated under the leadership of a retired judge to reveal the truth of the incident.
4. In the same way as compensation has been allotted to Paveen’s family, effort should be taken to provide compensation of 25 lakhs each to the victimized families of Masud and Fazil on behalf of the government.
