State to give Rs 50,000 compensation to youths heckled by Hindu Sanhati

Kolkata: The state government will pay Rs 50,000 compensation to the youths who had been pushed off a local train by the members of Hindu Sanhati on Sunday, after they refused to say 'Jai Sri Ram'.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called up Shahruk Halder, the Madrasa teacher who had been beaten up and then pushed off a train at Park Circus railway station on Saturday.

Halder was returning to his place of work in Hooghly. He took a train from Canning and when the train reached Dhakuria railway station, some youths who were supporters of the militant group Hindu Sanhati, got into the train.

When the train was approaching Ballygunge railway station, they came to Shahruk and asked him why he was wearing a cap and had grown a beard. When Sharuk refused to answer them, they beat him up and asked him to say 'Jai Sri Ram'.

They also told him that he would have to go to Bangladesh if he wanted to grow a beard. Finally, when the train reached Park Circus railway station, they threw him out of the compartment.

The victim later lodged an FIR with the Topsia railway station. He was subsequently taken to a local dispensary where he was treated. The family members of Shahruk said they felt threatened owing to the incident.

Condemning the incident, intellectuals of the city said such things had never happened in the state earlier.

"The political leaders should come forward and play a positive role in cementing communal peace and harmony, particularly at a time when the members of the minority communities are feeling threatened," they added.