Rizwanur’s mother now hopeful of getting justice

KOLKATA - Kiswar Jahan, the mother of Rizwanur Rahman who died under mysterious circumstances in 2007, Tuesday said she could hope for justice now that the Calcutta High Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a murder case and probe the youth’s death afresh.

“So far, we have not gained much. But the court order has given me peace of mind and heart. We have all along been saying that Riz was murdered,” Jahan told reporters after the division bench of the high court gave its ruling on her petition.

“We now want justice…achcha insaaf (good justice)”, she said, when asked what she expected after the court judgment.

Acting on her petition, the division bench of Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice Prosensjit Mondal asked the CBI to launch a case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code by taking the police complaint of Rizwanur’s brother Rukbanur Rahman as the first information report (FIR).

Rizwanur, a computer graphics teacher, married Priyanka, daughter of Kolkata businessmen Ashok Todi. He was found dead Sep 21, 2007, along the railway tracks at Patipukur near the city’s northern suburb of Dum Dum.

The death sparked outrage following allegations that Ashok Todi had influenced several police officers to bring pressure on Rizwanur, 20, to opt out of the marriage.

Several police officers, including the then city police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, were later removed from their posts for their alleged role in Rizwanur’s death.

The CBI then concluded that Rizwanur had committed suicide. Todi, two of his relatives and four senior city police officers were among those later formally charged with allegedly abetting Rizwanur’s suicide.