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Purulia (Bengal): The family of a Muslim street hawker who was allegedly hacked to death with an axe in Purulia district have claimed that his murder is linked to the atmosphere of anti-Muslim hatred and fear that has swept into Bengal in recent times. Police have denied religious hatred played a role.

“It is because of this climate of fear that my father was murdered,” said Zulfikar, the 20-year-old son of 47-year-old Akbar Mondal, the hawker who was killed on June 9. The Wire spoke to Zulfikar on June 10 as he was carrying his father’s body back to his village of Punisol in neighbouring Bankura district.

Akbar’s son, Zulfikar Mondal. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.

The area is commonly referred to as ‘Jangalmahal’ – forested land which has played home to significant political movements in the past.

Zulfikar had been forced by poverty to abandon his education, and worked, like his father, as a hawker in the Bandwan region of Purulia district. The crime has shaken his family and village alike, he said.

Zulfikar said at one the morning of June 9, Akbar was hawking steel utensils on........

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