A CPI(M) delegation met the family members of 15-year old Junaid, who was lynched by a mob on Thursday while he was travelling on a local train to Mathura from Delhi with his relatives.

CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat and Mohd Salim told reporters on Saturday that the incident was motivated entirely by communal considerations. “The question is how are armed men allowed onto trains. All the initial attackers were carrying big knives. They incited other passengers to join them in the lynching. Clearly, if such incidents can occur in a crowded train, it is because the perpetrators are confident of political support and patronage,” they said in a statement.

The party blamed that the “sustained toxic propaganda of the Sangh Parivar against the minority communities” has led to such a situation where Muslims feel unsafe in public places and where such spaces have been communalised. “This is the reality of the sab ka saath, sab ka vikas slogan,” they said.

The CPI(M) demanded the Centre and State government to immediately arrest the guilty and identify their political connections. It also urged the governments to provide security on all the local trains travelling on this route and a compensation for the family along with proper free treatment for Shakir and Hasheem, Junaid’s brothers.

The delegation also assured the family members of their support and solidarity. The leaders said not a single Government or ruling party functionary has contacted the family or expressed sorrow at what has happened. The leaders said they were told that young men travelling on this train to and from Delhi with identifiable signs of being Muslims, such as the skull cap or beard are targeted for communal abuse by groups on the train. “Bhajanmandalis with battery operated mikes have converted many general compartments into exclusive religious zones and there are many aggressive and abusive comments made when Muslim men enter the compartments,” they alleged.

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