Man leaves bodies of wife, son in mortuary to attend SIR hearing in Bengal
Mohammad Yasin Ansari, who is a teacher by profession, was headed to a bus stand along with his wife, Halima Khatun, and their nine-month-old son to eventually reach the hearing centre, his brother-in-law, Abdur Rahman Ansari, said.
A tragic incident in West Bengal has once again reignited controversy and debate surrounding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in the state. On Friday, a man had to leave the bodies of his wife and infant at a morgue shortly after they were killed in a road accident in Malda to attend an SIR hearing.
Mohammad Yasin Ansari, a teacher, was headed to the bus stand along with his wife, Halima Khatun, and their nine-month-old son to reach the SIR hearing centre, his brother-in-law, Abdur Rahman Ansari, said.
However, the rickshaw they were travelling in overturned on its way to the bus stand. While Khatun died on the spot, the couple's infant succumbed to injuries in the hospital, Abdur said.
Both Mohammad Yasin and Halima were summoned because of discrepancies in their forms. Speaking about the tragedy, Mohammad Yasin blamed the Centre and the SIR for his loss.
"We had come for that (SIR hearing) only. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here," Yasin said. The state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) also targeted the Election Commission and the BJP-led Centre over the incident.
Malda's district Youth Trinamool president Prasenjit Das said, "We strongly condemn the manner in which the Election Commission is subjecting the people to hardships and taking away lives on behalf of the BJP."
Meanwhile, Amlan Bhaduri, a local spokesperson for the BJP, accused the TMC of politicising deaths in West Bengal. "TMC leaders want scores of people to die in West Bengal so that they can spread propaganda linking unrelated deaths to SIR."
Expressing sorrow over the incident in Malda, he further said that the TMC was trying to blame SIR even for accidental and natural deaths in the state. "TMC leaders don't want a vetted voter list in the state," Bhaduri claimed, echoing his party's stance.
The heated debate between the BJP and the TMC over SIR has spilt beyond the political arena. Last week, the Supreme Court began hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's plea against the ongoing exercise.
The TMC supremo has claimed before the court that more than 150 people have died so far due to work-related stress stemming from SIR. According to her, the deceased include a Booth-Level Officer (BLO) who reportedly died from severe stress linked to official directives.