The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) will send a delegation led by its national co-convener Ashutosh Ranka to West Bengal’s Bankura on Monday, following the death of the father of its volunteer Shaik Abdul Hafeez after an alleged attack.
Ashutosh Ranka said he, along with Vijay Mallangi, Ankit Bhardwaj, Sudhir Sangwan and other CJP members, would travel to Karisunda village and visit the family. He also appealed to CJP supporters in Bengal to gather at Indas police station. “We want to fix the schools. But BJP’s goons are only spreading violence across the entire country,” Ranka said.
“Abdul’s only mistake was that he wanted to get his village school repaired. But BJP’s goons beat his father so badly that he died...We are not afraid of BJP’s goons," Ranka added.
The CJP has alleged that Shaik Abdul Hafeez was attacked after participating in its nationwide ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign, during which he visited a government school in his village to highlight its poor condition. Hafeez’s father, Janab Mafik, died on Saturday after suffering severe head injuries in the alleged assault on August 13. Hafeez had alleged that local BJP workers entered his home, demanded that he apologise for highlighting the school’s condition and assaulted him and his father when he refused.
CJP founder and national convener Abhijeet Dipke also condemned the incident, saying, “It makes my blood boil that people are being murdered simply for demanding better schools.” He demanded the immediate arrest of those responsible and said the party would stand by Hafeez and his family. Dipke further said, “We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated. We will keep fighting for better schools.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said the FIR registered in the case did not identify the accused as BJP workers. He said three of five accused had been arrested and that the remaining two would also be arrested. “Out of five people, three have already been arrested. The investigation is ongoing. The remaining two will also be arrested,” Adhikari said.
He also said home guards had been deployed outside the family’s residence and that the CJP was free to hold its planned protest in Bankura. “They can protest in Bankura. We welcome them. It is a democratic country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CJP’s legal team said it was providing legal assistance to Hafeez’s family. Legal team lead Ratna Singh said the party was “closely monitoring the situation and providing all the legal assistance to the family”, with further updates to follow.
The party has also alleged that no medico-legal case was initiated and no FIR was registered immediately after the initial assault, and has called for an impartial investigation into the attack, Mafik’s death and the alleged failure to initiate due legal proceedings.
