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Stretching across the western edge of Daroga para are vast paddy fields. Wherever the eye travels, young Aman paddy plants can be seen standing tall, their green stalks rising above the rain-soaked fields. But the fields are not the only thing that catches the eye. In the middle of this vast stretch of farmland stands a small house, the only dwelling for a mile around. But reaching that house is not easy anymore. 

The path leading from the pond in Daroga para to the house can hardly be called a road. During the monsoon, the narrow track to sticky clay has turned into a nightmare. Anyone attempting to reach the house has little choice but to roll up their trousers or clothes to their knees, take off their shoes and wade through the mud. Even then, there is no guarantee of reaching the house without falling several times. In the courtyard of this isolated home, bloodstains are still visible on the metal grille. And amid the paddy fields, one can almost hear the desperate voice of a father trying to protect his son a week ago: “Leave my son alone. He has done nothing wrong. He had only gone to the headmaster of the village primary school to discuss how the education of the children in the village could be improved. Is that a crime for which you will attack him with sharp weapons?”

The road leading to Abdul Hafiz’s home in Karishunda village. Photo: Madhu Sudhan Chatterjee.

That was the desperate plea of Sheikh Mohammad Mafik, a middle-aged bread hawker, as he tried to protect Abdul Hafiz from a group of attackers who had descended on their home at night on August 13. He managed to push his injured son inside the house and lock the grille from the outside, throwing the key back inside. But the attackers did not stop.

Hafiz was bleeding. His father was now standing between him and the assailants in the dark night. Mafik could identify some of the attackers. But he could not recognise the others. The reason, the family says, was that the electricity connection to the house had been cut off before the attack, plunging the home into darkness. According to Hafiz’s mother Hasina Bibi, the attackers turned their fury on the Mafik. The merciless attack continued in the darkness. Three days later, on August 15, the day India celebrated its independence Day, Sheikh Mohammad Mafik died at Bardhaman Medical College and Hospital.

His family alleges that those who attacked him were Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and that the assault was carried out openly in the name of the ruling party. The son survived the attack but lost his father. But even after the death of his father, 25-year-old youth Hafiz told The Wire that he will not abandon the struggle that brought him into the conflict in the first place. His initiative was simple: he wanted to understand the condition of education in his village. He had approached the headmaster of village primary school to discuss how the education for children could be improved. That effort, his family alleges, made him a target.

Now, with his father dead, Hafiz is demanding punishment for those responsible for the attack. But alongside that demand for justice is another promise – one that he says he is making before the world. He will continue his fight to expand educational opportunities for the children of his village. The blood on the grille may tell the story of what happened that night. But Hafizl’s determination tells another story: that even after violence has taken away his father; it has not taken away his resolve to fight for education.

The message has now travelled far beyond Bengal, reaching people in different parts of the country. People who have heard about 25 years old Hafiz’s struggle are making their way to Karishunda village. They cross the treacherous, mud-filled path leading to his isolated home, step into his courtyard and offer him something he says he needs more than anything else – not money, but solidarity for the education movement.........

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