Shambhu Nath Raigar killed my husband, how can he contest Lok Sabha polls, asks Rajasthan victim's wife

It was 2017, an incident shocked the country and changed Gulbahar Bibi’s world forever. With horror in her eyes, Bibi saw her husband Md Afrazul being hacked to death and his body being burnt by Shambhunath Raigar in Rajasthan.

While the video clip went viral and Raigar was arrested for the hate crime, Bibi has not been able to come to the terms of this unspeakable loss.

A year later, killer of her husband is reportedly set to contest 2019 General Elections. Breaking her silence, Bibi spoke to DNA. 

‘Why is he being given a political ticket to contest elections? Isn’t there any humanity left? Why can’t the government do something to prevent him from contesting the polls,’ Bibi said in her broken voice. She was talking to DNA over the phone from her native place, Saiyadpur village under Kaliachak Police Station in Malda district.

She said that since the death of Afrazul on December 6, 2017, the entire family had not spent a day in peace. “We want death punishment for Regar. He should be hanged till death and not be allowed to enter politics otherwise, he will spread the same hatred against Muslims which he has displayed earlier. People like him are menace to the society,” Gulbahar added.

Gulbahar also said that after Afrazul’s death West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had given a compensation of Rs 3 lakh, Congress MP from South Malda constituency Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury had given her Rs one lakh among others. “They have paid money but the monetary compensation could not alleviate the grief of losing Afrazul. My three daughters and I have been living a life of uncertainty since then. We have no other source of income. What is going to happen after we exhaust the money?” she said.

On December 6, Afrazul, a migrant labourer from Malda who had been to Rajasthan was hacked to death with a pick axe by Regar in the name of love jihad. Regar also made his 14-year-old nephew capture the killing on his mobile phone and then, along with a video message against love jihad, Raigar made the murder video viral on the internet.

Raigar, who has been in Jodhpur jail after his arrest, has reportedly been offered a ticket from Agra in the Lok Sabha polls by Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena. Sena president Amit Jani had recently announced the names of five candidates which included Raigar’s name saying that he wanted Hindutva faces for the polls and there was no one better than Raigar from Agra which is a seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes.