Mumbai: Bank peon felicitated by the board

Farooq Mapkar (second from left) at the Kokan Mercantile Co-operative Bank on August 31, the day of his retirement. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

After the board of directors of the Kokan Mercantile Co-operative Bank finished their meeting, on Saturday, there was one more item on the agenda that detained them: the felicitation of an employee who was retiring that day. Not any senior executive but one who had started off at the bank as a security guard and was retiring as a peon. Adding to the uniqueness of this felicitation was the fact that of the 37 years that this employee had worked at the bank, 31 had been spent challenging the State.

When such employees retire, most managements heave a sigh of relief. But no one in the Kokan Mercantile Bank is relieved that Farooq Mapkar is retiring. Indeed, they can't visualise a workplace without him. "Ideal employee", "more than perfect", are descriptions used frequently by his seniors for him.

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The rest of the world knows Mapkar as the only victim of the 1992-93 riots who's still fighting for justice. Shot in the shoulder on January 10, 1993, as he bent for namaz inside a masjid near his home in Sewri, Mapkar saw six of his fellow namazis die in the firing. Calling the firing "unprovoked", the Justice B N Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry prescribed strict punishment for sub-inspector Nikhil Kapse who ordered it.

Mapkar tried every possible legal route to bring the cop to trial, but the Maharashtra government's backing ensured that neither the Commission's indictment, nor the Bombay High Court's direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the matter, touched Kapse.

However, while the world may know Mapkar as the face of the '92-'93 riot victims, those whom he works with have a completely different image of him.

Neither has he discussed his long fight against the State in the bank nor has he taken extra leave to pursue it. Someone close to the government once asked about this peon who wouldn't give up, recalls bank vice-chairman Asgar Dabir. He was informed that that was Mapkar's personal matter.

A fearless hero

"The Farooq Mapkar we know is a workaholic," said chairman Asif Gulam Dadan, "one who comes in at 8.30 am even though the bank opens at 10; who can be seen cleaning the bank after everyone leaves. His name may often be in the newspapers, but Mapkar has never been shy of his post. When visitors come, he rushes to offer them refreshments. Even on his last day, he brought me lunch." Dadan has known Mapkar for 22 years. "In all these years, he has never asked for a promotion."

"If there's a job nobody is willing to do, you can be sure Mapkar will do it, be it lifting a heavy load, or rushing to help flood victims," said Dabir, who's known him for 25 years. In 2021, the bank had arranged relief material for the flood-affected Konkan, but no one was willing to go there to distribute the material. It was Mapkar who got on to one truck, and sent his wife on the other. "Mapkar was felicitated in front of 1,000 people for this," recalled Dadan. "But typically, he didn't even show the photograph of the felicitation to his colleagues."

Again, recalled Dadan, it was Mapkar who not only accompanied a bank manager to the hospital during the COVID lockdown but also delivered essentials to him there. "Mapkar doesn't know the meaning of fear," said Dabir. "That's what makes him such a rare human being. Come what may, we will keep him close to us even after his retirement," added Dadan.

All this praise sits lightly on Mapkar. He never asked for a promotion because it would have left him no time to pursue his fight for justice, he said, and, he never felt it necessary to talk about it as it was in the newspapers already. There's one thing though that he's clear about: "Nowhere else would I have been able to carry on my struggle for so long; only due to the understanding management of the bank has this been possible. That's why I've made sure my work never suffered."