Thirty year old Ajjan Imran was killed by a mob in Nawada district of Bihar | Photo by arrangement

By Sami Ahmad 

BIHAR – Ajjan Imran, 30, was lynched by a mob in Gangti village of Ukaura Panchayat under Pakri Barawan police station of Nawada district, around 100 kilometres south of Patna on September 29. He died on the morning of September 30 at a local community health centre. While Ajjan was accused of stealing a tractor battery, his father told TwoCircles.net “that this is a malicious fabrication to save the accused as he was asked to come and collect the outstanding money.”

Nobody, including the police, denies that he was lynched. Ten persons, from the mob of around a hundred people, including the main accused Suresh Sao have been arrested in the case. Suresh owed rupees 12,000 to Ajjan out of the total rupees 17,000 for the thrasher work. Thrashers for wheat are made locally in the area.

Ajjan was a welding mechanic in his father Jamil Akhtar’s iron-grill making shop in Shudanpur village, just a kilometre away from the place of the lynching. Ajjan was the younger son of the two.  

Jamil Akhtar is inconsolable. He is heartbroken not just for his son, but for his son’s widow Parwin Khatoon and their four children. He demands justice for his son. 

He narrates the story of Ajjan’s murder and breaks it down for us. 

Jamil said Ajjan’s lynching is Qayamat (Doomsday) for us. 

“He was a hard-working man who helped us to run this small shop. He had no enmity with anyone but he used to speak bluntly. He was asked by Suresh to reach Gangti and take the outstanding amount. He went there in the evening but after midnight my nephew Jawed got a call from Sanjay Paswan, the private driver working for the police, who informed that Ajjan was injured and being taken to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries in the morning,” Jamil said.  

Jamil alleges that the lynching was preplanned as Ajjan was called to reach Gangti despite him not being free to go to Gangti. “They must have planned to kill Ajjan. The injury marks confirm that. He was beaten brutally with the nailed wooden planks used for shuttering. His wrist-veins were cut. His hand was fractured. Someone from there told me that he was attacked and the mob was incited with such words as ‘Mima Ke Mar’ (hit this Mima, local slang for a Muslim),” his father said. 

Though Deputy Superintendent of Police of Pakri Barawan, Mukesh Kumar Saha outrightly rejected this accusation and told TwoCircles.net that while it was true that he had been lynched by the mob but there was no communal angle to it. 

The other point on which Ajjan’s family and the police disagree is that why no ‘dying declaration’ was taken as the FIR is registered on the statement of the victim’s wife Parwin Khatoon. 

Jamil said that when they arrived at the hospital, Ajjan was writhing in pain. “In his last moments, he told us what had happened in bits and pieces,” Jamil added. 

On the other hand, Dy.S.P. Saha maintains that Ajjan was not in a position to give any statement. The police, however, has no unambiguous reply for the question that if Ajjan’s condition was that bad why was he not referred to the district hospital. What is known that two chowkidars were deputed there and the police did not care much for his injuries as ‘he was caught as a thief.’

Jamil further said that Ajjan told them that he was given something to eat by Suresh which was mixed with some drugs. “His voice got broken as he was falling unconscious during the treatment. It was easy to beat Ajjan after getting him drugged. As his condition was deteriorating fast he asked for water and after sipping a few drops he breathed his last,” he said. 

A local social activist Shamshad Ahmad ‘Samo’ claimed that this is the third such incident in recent times in the area. 

He said that the role of the local police was satisfactory initially but it could have acted more efficiently as it failed to record the dying declaration of Ajjan. “The intention of the attackers was evident with the grievous nature of the injury,” Samo said.  

He alleged that the mob had communal elements and demanded that the police must investigate this angle as there are certain radical elements active in that area. “If the police so wished, it would know the truth,” Samo said.  

Ajjan’s father Jamil claims that he was taken to a ‘Bhusa Ghar’ (a place for putting fodder) and beaten there. “Fodder was present in his T-shirt and trouser when his body was taa ken for the Ghusl (bath). Who takes a thief to such a place to beat him? I am sure it is a communal gang who has done this,” said Jamil. 

Shakil Ahmad, former Mukhiya of Pakri Barawan Uttari Panchayat told TwoCircles.net that it was an unfortunate thing to happen. 

He insists that the accusation of stealing a battery is fabricated. He asks, “Why any thief would go to steal in the evening on a bicycle?” 

“It is the duty of the administration to arrange proper compensation and a job for the wife of the deceased,” Shakil added. 

Jamil’s wife Parwin is an intermediate pass and Jamil demands a job for her and compensation. 

This story first appeared on twocircles.net