An online campaign is gradually gaining momentum to seek "justice" for Rizwanur Rehman, a Kolkata-based computer graphics teacher who was found dead a month after marrying a Hindu girl against her family's wishes.
At least four communities, having hundreds of members, are presently active in social networking site Orkut in support of Rizwanur, with a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the death and punishment to the police personnel who allegedly threatened and pressurised him to separate from his Hindu wife Priyanka Todi being the major demands.
Taking a cue from similar campaigns in the past for Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo, the netizens are planning an online petition addressed to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, seeking "justice" for Rizwanur.
Wearing black bands in memory of Riwanur on Ashtami, the main day of the coming Durga Puja festival, asking the local Puja committees to keep a condolence book in the pandals are some of the other forms of protest and expression of solidarity with Rizwanur's family that are being suggested.
Rizwanur was found dead on September 21 under mysterious circumstances after his marriage to Priyanka, daughter of industrialist Ashok Todi, on August 18.
The police had termed it a case of suicide, but following a public outcry, with questions being raised from various quarters whether the police had exceeded their limits in handling the case of marriage of two consenting adults, a CID probe was ordered into the incident.
Rizwanur's family, however, has moved the Calcutta high court seeking a CBI inquiry.
Most of the youngsters, fervently discussing the issue in Orkut as well as several other websites and taking part in opinion polls on various related topics, say the case should not be given a Hindu-Muslim angle.
"Please avoid the communal angle... let's make it a struggle between the youth and the establishment, a struggle between different economic strata, but not communal," says the profile in "Justice for Rizwanur Rehman" community, which has some 200 members.
Hate messages, however, have seeped into various discussion boards, including a community created by students of "Rizwan sir", prompting the coordinators of the campaign to take precautionary measures.
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