Rajasthan hacking: Afrazul left home at the age of 14 to work, saved all he could so family could study

Anti-RSS posters on vehicles in Saiyadpur. (Express photo: Subham Dutta)

When Afrazul Khan was growing up, he had a choice: stay back in his border village and go down a risky path like many other young men in these parts — smuggling, trade in Fake Indian Currency Notes and narcotics — or leave home and make a living.

He chose the latter, leaving for Rajasthan at 14 with his father and a few other boys from their village Saiyadpur at Kalichowk in Bengal’s border district of Malda. Over the next three decades, the school dropout worked as a daily wager in Rajasthan, staying in shanties and later a dingy room that he shared with seven others. He saved enough to get his siblings educated and pay for all the weddings in the family — his own when he turned 22 and that of his siblings, two of his three daughters, and nieces and nephews.

On December 6, Afrazul was hacked and then burnt alive allegedly by Shambhulal Regar, who roped in his 14-year-old nephew to film the killing and ranted against “love jihad” and Islam.

At their home in Saiyadpur, Afrazul’s second daughter Rejina, 21, says, “Our father was always away, but used to call us everyday. We were sad that he was never home but we knew he was doing that to feed us. We do not know what love jihad is, but all I known is that my father was a family man who worked hard for us.”

Afzarul’s elder brother Muhammed Tafazzul Hussain Khan says he “has always sacrificed” just to keep the family running. “He is the hero of the family. He dropped out of school at an early age and left home so that we could study. He made be a BCom. Unfortunately, even with my degree, I could not get a job here so I too went to work with him,” says Tafazzul, 55, who did odd jobs in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore, before going to Rajasthan and moving in with Afrazul.

Tafazzul’s daughter Zenat Khan, who is studying for her MA (Bengali), says, “There are no jobs here and my uncles and father had to go out. My uncle (Afrazul) used to always tell us to study so that our family can see better days. It was and still is uncommon for girls to go in for higher studies but my uncle encouraged my sister and me to study.”

Afrazul’s late father, Hafizuddin Khan, and generations before him had worked as daily wage labourers in Malda. Afrazul was the second of Hajizuddin’s five children – three sons and two daughters. The family — with separate homes for the brothers – now jointly owns a little more than a bigha of land.

After dropping out of school early, Afrazul worked as a farm labourer in Malda but with work available only for a couple of months a year, when he turned 14, Afrazul and his father went to work in Rajasthan.

“There was no factory here then… there still isn’t. So the only way left for him and us was to leave the state,” says Tafazzul.

During his first few years in Rajasthan, Afrazul, like most labourers from Bengal, lived in makeshift tents and shanties set up by contractors at the worksite. His work took him all over Rajasthan – Jodhpur, Bikaner and, for the last few years, Rajsamand.

Afrazul’s younger brother Md Room Khan says, “He was a hard working man who ate less and saved for the family. In Rajsamand, he used to live in a small room that he shared with eight other labourers. They all slept on the floor and most days, ate only sabji-bhaat (vegetables and rice).”

Despite Afrazul’s best efforts, Room dropped out of school after Class 7 and joined his brother in Rajasthan.

Over the last few years, Afrazul had managed to win contracts for himself and would arrange for labourers for civil work in Rajasthan. The accused had allegedly called him on the pretext of showing him a place where a road was to be built and then attacked him.