Bodies of Iraq victims handed over to families amid demands for compensation

The mortal remains of two of the Indians captured and killed in Iraq by terror group ISIS were handed over to their families in Nadia district of West Bengal on Tuesday. At the house of one of the deceased, locals prevented the coffin from being unloaded from the vehicle. They carried it for about an hour demanding compensation for his family, as has been done by the Punjab government for the such families there. Local leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress said they could not say anything about compensation as the model code of conduct was in force because of the panchayat elections to be held early next month.

"We do not have any information on providing compensation to them till now," District Magistrate Sumit Gupta said. Earlier, heart wrenching scenes were witnessed at the houses of Khokon Sikdar and Samar Tikadar of Ilshamari village in Tehatta and Mahakhula village of Chapra respectively when the coffins reached there. Tikadar's wife Dipali was inconsolable and was not able to talk. "She had fainted several times since last night," said her sister Anna. Her sister said that Dipali, who is an ICDS worker and also engaged in beedi making, hoped to get a government job to make both ends meet. Her son Sudipta, 14, was silent with signs of dried up tears on his cheeks while her daughter Sharmila, 9, was crying. Local people surrounded the vehicle the moment it reached there carrying Tikadar's body. In Sikdar's house, the locals said they would not allow the coffin to be unloaded till the administration announced compensation for his family. One of them said that as the Punjab government had announced compensation, its West Bengal counterpart should follow suit. It took around an hour to persuade them before the coffin was finally lowered to the ground.

"No one came forward to help us. I appeal to all to provide me a government job," Sikdar's wife Namita claimed. State minister Ujjwal Biswas and Trinamool Congress Nadia district president Gouri Dutta accompanied the coffins to the houses of Tikadar and Sikdar respectively. "We provided jobs to Dipali Tikadar and Namita Sikdar. We are with the families. But we can say nothing more now as the election has been declared and model code of conduct is in force," Biswas, an MLA of the district, told reporters. Dutta said, "We have given job to the daughter of Sikdar. She is a college student. But Tikadar's children are minors." Sikdar and Tikadar had gone to work in Iraq through an agency in 2011 and their families lost contact with them in mid-2014. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament last month that 40 Indians were abducted by ISIS from Mosul in Iraq in June 2014, but one of them escaped.

The remaining 39 were taken to Badoosh and killed. Their bodies were brought back to India yesterday. The coffins of the two victims from West Bengal were brought from Kolkata airport and kept at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital morgue at Kalyani in Nadia district for the night before being handed over to the families today. Sikdar's mortal remains were buried at the compound of his home while those of Tikadar were taken to Nabadweep for cremation.

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