After injury, the insult: grave lies forgotten

Ravik Bhattacharya Posted: Aug 15, 2008 at 0205 hrs
Kolkata, August 14 A mound of soil covered with undergrowth and polybags at the state-run Gobra burial ground, with no mention of the deceased. Even as Rizwanur Rehman’s death continues to generate controversy, his grave lies unprotected. Policemen and private security guards, who were supposed to be posted round the clock, are rarely seen here.

“His grave needs protection. I will speak to my department officers to ensure safety. The burial ground has its own security guards, though no one is posted there,” said Subodh Dey, MMiC (health), in-charge of burial grounds in Kolkata Municipal Corporation area. “For six months, a few policemen were posted here because it was expected that the grave would be exhumed for another post mortem. But now no one is here,” said Abdul Latif, a KMC officer posted at the burial ground.

“Earlier, a wooden plaque mentioning Rehman’s details stood beside the grave but that withered away in a few months and now it’s impossible to even identify the grave,” said Mehrunnisa Bibi, an incense stick seller at the burial ground. She could identify the grave with a few saplings. “Four saplings were planted at the grave when he was buried. For a few months after the burial, several people visited here regularly, even political leaders. But now no body comes here,” she added.

Mamata demands Buddha’s head
After the HC judgment, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee demanded that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee should be removed from his post. “He is also the state home minister and is in charge of the Kolkata Police. We know on whose directives the former police commissioner and other police officers had acted,” said Banerjee. She added that state sponsored terror was unleashed on the couple. The chief minister should take full responsibility of the incident and ask for forgiveness from the Rehman family, she said, adding that the verdict was a victory of the common man against money and muscle power.

Bhattacharjee, meanwhile, told mediapersons at the Writers Buildings, “I will comment only after I receive a copy of the judgment.”
- ENS