Train shooting victim’s family demand job for kin

The younger brothers of Asghar Ali Shaikh, a victim of the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express shooting, have demanded a job to support his family. The family has been given compensation of ?10 lakh and asked to submit a written request for a job. However, they are unsure of whom to address the letter to and what kind of job they can seek. Asghar Ali had boarded the train to find work in Mumbai to support his wife and five children. His extended family is now at the Borivali Railway Police station seeking compensation and a job for his family.

Mumbai: Two younger brothers of 48-year-old Asghar Ali Shaikh, the fourth victim of the firing incident on Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express, on Tuesday demanded a job for his kin to be able to support his family of a wife and five children.

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On Monday, the family had been given the ₹10 lakh compensation promised to them and on Tuesday, they were asked to submit a written request for a job. However, the family members said that it has not yet been made clear to them as to whom to address the letter to and what kind of job they can seek.

The family members said they planned to take Asghar Ali’s body to Jaipur to complete the last rites, with some of his family already on the way.

Asghar Ali had boarded the train to look for work in Mumbai and be able to feed his family. However, he ended up as one of the victims of the shooting carried out by Chetan Singh, Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable, who killed three others on the train early on Monday.

Asghar Ali had planned to shift to Mumbai as his work of making bangles in Jaipur had slowed down in the off season. Nagpada, where his younger brother Amanullah resides, was where he wanted to try his luck to be able to feed his family. He was willing to take up any work he would get.

It is the concern for the four daughters and one son Asghar Ali left behind in Jaipur, with the eldest (14 years old) and the youngest (one and a half years old), that led his extended family to spend Tuesday at Borivali Railway Police station. Two of his younger brothers, Amanullah and Zikurrala, demanded compensation and a job for his kin.

Asghar Ali belonged to a poor family from the village of Parbatta in Bihar, where he grew up with five brothers and three sisters. He studied in a madrassa in Karnataka for a short while and worked in a mosque in Pune. However, his father’s death around 13 years ago forced him to take over the family’s expenses, including that of an ageing mother in Bihar.

He called his family to Jaipur, but money was tight on his income of around ₹8,000, as they lived in a house with a monthly rent of around ₹4,000. The brother older to him lives in Punjab, Zikurrala in Nagpur, with the rest of the siblings and mother in Bihar.

“He was a good man, a sharif man. All he wanted was a good life for his family and children,” said Amanullah, who has been in the city for three years now employed as a tailor. “His wife is extremely upset and hasn’t been able to talk to us properly.”

“What’s appalling to us is that someone who was meant to protect him took his life, and in particular targetted him,” said Raunaq Parveen Shaikh, who is Asghar Ali wife’s sister.