Remember Ankit Saxena? The boy who was murdered, just because he happened to fall in love with a Muslim girl? It seems that this case won’t fizzle out soon. Only a couple of weeks after his father organized an Iftaar party in order to ‘maintain harmony’ between the clashing communities, the Delhi Minorities Commission has written a letter to the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, over the compensation that is still unpaid to the deceased Ankit’s family.
According to the letter written by the DMC chairman Zafarul Islam Khan, the victim’s father, Yashpal Saxena, is now left to fend for his family given that Ankit was the sole breadwinner before his untimely death. To quote his letter, “Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had visited the family and a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs was promised to the affected family. But the promise has not been redeemed so far.”
The chairman also reported that the letter has been written to the chief minister to “remind” him of the “promise” of compensation and also to urge him to raise the amount to Rs 20 lakh so that the elderly parents of the victim have some meaningful support in their old age. He also praised Yashpal Saxena for not allowing the incident to turn into mob frenzy. To quote him further, “…We thank Yashpal ji for not communalising the murder of his son and urging the people to maintain calm…”
“… As a result, Delhi was spared of a fresh bout of violence. A few days back, Yashpal Saxena had also organised a Hindu-Muslim iftaar party at his home to promote amity and peace,” he said.
For those not aware, Ankit Saxena was a photographer, who had fallen in love with a Muslim girl, and was alegedly murdered on February 1 by her parents and her elder brother, who not only slit his throat but also stabbed him multiple times, leaving him to die on the spot.
Apparently, Chief Minister Kejriwal, after a massive uproar, had visited the aggrieved family and promised them a compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs. He has not paid them the money due as of now. This stands clearly in contrast to the vast sum that he donated to the family of Mohammad Akhlaq, lynched by a mob in Dadri for storing beef, and the sum of Rs. 15 lakhs (approximately) that he donated to the family of Rohith Vemula, an ex student union leader, whose suicide was maliciously exploited for political leverage.
This letter has also exposed ‘the secularism’ that Chief Minister Kejriwal and his followers proudly wear on the sleeves. They announce compensation and deliver it solely on the basis of their personal criteria. If anyone does not fit the criteria, like the unfortunate case of Dr. Pankaj Narang, the victim simply continues to languish in despair.
Not only has Chief Minister Kejriwal denied the Saxena family the monetary compensation as of now, he has also backtracked on his promise to provide all legal help possible to the family against the culprits. We guess that Ankit Saxena is a ‘lesser mortal’ for this ‘progressive’ government. This betrayal is certainly not going to go down well with the masses of Delhi, already suffering under his current maladministration and his absurd strikes and agitations.