Kolkata, 19 April (H.S.) -At the far end of Jafrabad village, nestled along the banks of the Ganga in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, a once-peaceful neighborhood is now shrouded in silence and mourning. The broken door, scattered belongings, and splintered bricks of one particular home bear witness to a horrifying afternoon — a day when death stormed in with a mob of thousands, leaving behind two lifeless bodies and a lifetime of sorrow.
On Saturday, April 12, 65-year-old Hargobind Das and his son Chandan Das were dragged out of their home and brutally lynched with sharp weapons. From a single house, two funeral processions emerged that day. What remained were screams, sobs, and a series of unanswered questions.
---
Can money bring back my husband and son?
Inside the shattered home, 65-year-old Parul Das sits in a corner — Chandan’s mother and Hargobind’s wife — broken and empty. Her tears have long dried. After a long pause, her cracked voice trembles as she says, “I am a mother in Mamata Didi’s Bengal… What will I do with money? Can money bring back my husband and son?”
She has firmly refused any financial compensation offered by the government. Her words, soaked in quiet agony, carry a pain only a mother and wife can know.
---
There wasn’t a place on the body without a wound...
Eyewitnesses say the attack was planned. It started with stone-pelting, followed by the mob breaking down the door and storming inside with sticks, swords, and iron rods. “They chopped off hands, cut the legs, there were wounds everywhere on the body,” says Hargobind’s daughter, sobbing.
The house was looted, ransacked, destroyed. And amid that inhumanity, one question echoed again and again — Is it a crime to be a Hindu in this country?
---
A Son’s Eyes Hold Not Just Tears — But Fire
Eleven-year-old Aakash, Chandan’s son, sat stunned during the shasthi ritual (the sixth day of mourning) when the Hindusthan Samachar reporting team visited the home on Thursday.
With a quivering voice, he asked, “What was my father’s and grandfather’s fault? Those who killed them should be punished the same way. I’m still studying… but when the time comes, I’ll show the world what I become.”
There are no answers for his questions — not from the government, not from the political class.
---
Why were we targeted? Just because we’re Hindus?
Chandan’s sister-in-law, Shravani Das, trembles with fury. “We had no enmity with anyone. Then why was our house destroyed? Why were our men slaughtered? Was it just because we are Hindus?”
Her voice no longer carries fear — only the searing anguish of injustice and vengeance.
---
Media Adding Salt to the Wound
The family's anger isn't just directed at the government and the mob — but also at sections of the national media. Several prominent journalists visited, recorded their statements, and then aired false stories claiming the father and son were killed due to personal enmity.
For a family shattered by a bloodthirsty mob, the media’s betrayal feels like a second wound — a distortion of their trauma. They now no longer know whom to trust.
---
The Government is Silent, the Village is Terrified
A heavy police presence remains in the area, but fear hangs thick in the air. Many villagers have fled to relatives’ homes, too afraid to stay. Though the state has announced compensation, the grieving family has refused to accept it.
For them, money and protection are meaningless now — for what they lost can never be replaced.
This wasn’t just a murder. It was the murder of faith — the faith a citizen holds in their country, its constitution, and its society.
And now, from a remote corner of Bengal, a heart-wrenching cry rises, demanding an answer from the nation — Has being a Hindu become a crime in India?
Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh
