Residents of main suspect’s village visit Junaid Khan’s home to make a fresh beginning

The elders told Junaid’s father Jalal-u-din and other members that they shared their sorrow for the June 22 incident

Dozens of villagers from Bhamrola and surrounding areas marched to Junaid Khan’s home in Khandawali village on Saturday to put aside their differences and make a fresh start after the lynching of 16-year-old on a Mathura-bound local train.

On Saturday, around 20 to 25 elders visited Junai Khan’s home.

Bhamrola is the village from where Naresh Kumar, the main accused in the case, hailed. Kumar was arrested from Dhule district of Maharashtra last Saturday. The GRP said that they had even recovered the knife that was used to stab Junaid on the Mathura-Delhi-Ghaziabad EMU train.

On Saturday, around 20 to 25 elders from the committee assembled in a farmhouse of a local political leader on Mathura road near Sikri village around 10am and proceeded towards Khandawali village, which is almost one and half kilometers away from NH2. Khandawali village is the home of Junaid Khan.

After reaching Khandawali,the committee members expressed condolences to Junaid’s bereaved family.

The elders told Junaid’s father Jalal-u-din and other members that they shared their sorrow for the June 22 incident. Jalal-u-din, in turn, welcomed the committee members saying he was happy to witness this gesture from the committee that was constituted after arrest of the main accused.

“I knew some of the committee members. This gesture is definitely going to strengthen harmony between the two communities,” Jalal-u-din said.

“We are very close to the people of Khandawali and this longstanding relation made things easy for all the committee members to visit the grief-stricken family”, said Sanjay Daggar, a social activist-cum-political leader.

“We expressed grief and paid emphasis on strengthening communal brotherhood”, said Mahinder Singh Sehrawat of Hathin, who was part of the delegation.

“ Bhaicharai ko mazboot rakhna hai (The brotherhood needs to be strong among us),” he told Junaid’s family.