April 26, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1429

KARACHI, April 25: The family of young Jagdeesh Kumar, who was beaten to death by his factory co-workers for allegedly making blasphemous remarks about the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), has returned to the city after spending more than two weeks in Mirpurkhas, their hometown, to mourn his death.

However, the members of this Hindu family feel it hard to restart a normal life with the “stain” of blasphemy on their whole community, which they believe is a lie to cover up the real motive behind the 20-year-old man’s murder.

“Until we get justice, we have to live with the same lie, which sparks fear among our community,” said Rameshri, an elder sister of the deceased, who he lived with for years in Lyari before meeting his tragic end on April 8 at a factory in Korangi.

A resident of Mirpurkhas, Jagdeesh lived in Lyari with his sister and brother-in-law to earn a livelihood. His brutal end has raised questions about the performance of the police, who, despite reaching the spot, failed to prevent the workmen from beating their colleague to death.

Though the police arrested his three co-workers, the family and the workers appear least satisfied with the investigation. But an unknown fear, which has gripped the whole community after the incident, makes the family a little cautious to pursue the case.

“We never felt such a situation even in our ancestral home in Mirpurkhas,” said Sundri, another sister of Jagdeesh. “Neither do we want compensation, nor any financial support. We need justice, which would definitely remove such an allegation against our community,” she said.

Wrapped in traditional saris, the four sisters of Jagdeesh do not feel confident even discussing their own religion. They consider themselves “illiterate” and not able to talk about any religion.

“How can a person who has come to earn bread for his poor family indulge in such a discussion, about something he doesn’t know anything about,” said Gopi, one of the five sisters of the deceased, who travelled from Umerkot to Mirpurkhas to share her ailing parents’ grief.

Her own pain brought her to Karachi so she could be with her other sisters, who are in the city to earn their livelihoods. The young man was the youngest among five sisters and three brothers.

Jagdeesh’s killing came as a shock to political and human rights activists. It also attracted criticism from religious circles. The case, however, appears to be going nowhere, as the police took it as a reaction to the alleged blasphemy committed by Jagdeesh, while the family suspects the real reason behind the brutal murder is being covered up.

“We have reason to believe” that there is a cover-up, said Ratan Kumar, a minority councillor of a union council in Lyari’s Marwari Mohalla, which has been home to dozens of Hindu families for decades.

“It’s the police’s job to determine the real culprits. The people who have been arrested are part of the crime, not the masterminds. It’s a case of murder, not blasphemy,” he added.

Mr Ratan’s comments matched the reservations of Jagdeesh’s family, who learned after the murder that his brawl with co-workers inside his workplace was not the first. They suspect such a situation led to the murder of Jagdeesh in the name of blasphemy.

“But no one says it before the police or the media,” said one of his sisters while crying, tears rolling down her cheeks as the others surrounded her. “If justice is done and the culprits are punished, it would give us comfort and also remove the fear prevailing within our community. This would make our people feel confident that they are citizens with all fundamental rights.”