West Bengal Side Story

When they met, he was 30, she was perhaps 22. He was from a lower middle-class Muslim family. She is the daughter of a very rich businessman from Calcutta - a Hindu man. He was her graphics teacher, you might say a position of trust. Well, whaddya know, romance blossomed and they got secretly married. What followed was a month of intrigue and suspense. Popsy got upset. He got hold of Saurabh Ganguly's brother and through his CAB links met top cops of Calcutta. Allegedly, the cops harassed the newly wed couple (Priyanka had by then moved into the residence of her husband's family). They summoned them to Calcutta police headquarters a few times. Among other people used to try and influence the couple to separate was a Muslim politician from the area. There was even a showdown, when in a desperate bid, the girl's family paid a visit to the couple at the family residence of the groom and made threats.

Under mysterious circumstances, the woman agreed to return to her parents' home, in an apparent bid to convince the parents. After a week or so, her husband (the man in the picture) was found dead on the railway tracks.

This was enough to start a media blitzkrieg which shows no sign of abating and at the time of writing is snowballing into a huge political gambit. The theory goes as follows: rich Hindutva pop bumps off poor minority groom with the help of the corrupt (mostly Hindu) top cops of the city.

Unfortunately, this theory suffered a serious setback from the get go. When the human rights commission went to visit her (after she surfaced from a brief hiatus, apparently a family trip to Tirupati):

Priyanka Todi has gone silent. Not a word has been exchanged between her and her in-laws. And even as her mother-in-law tried to decipher her silence, Priyanka chose to speak to the human rights commission. Not saying what every one wanted to hear, saying she wants justice and she wants to be left alone. [link]

Priyanka said she was upset. More importantly, she didn't appear to particularly suspect her own parents. She also didn't allege harassment by cops. Certainly not what the media wanted to hear.

If CNN-IBN swallowed this setback, The Outlook magazine would have none of it. Now the victim received her share of blame for not helping them out with their political folklore:

But ever since she got to know of her husband's death, she has remained silent. She never visited her grieving in-laws, she never issued any statement to share their pain and sorrow and she has hardly behaved like a person in mourning. Does this mean she has been totally brainwashed by her parents and relatives? Or is it that she has suddenly become worldly-wise and realised that since her husband is no more, she'd rather choose the luxuries of life at her parent's place to the despair and plain living at her in-laws? [link]

This is the funniest piece we heard since Arundhati Roy was preaching Gandhi style abstinence.

and more:

Initially, Priyanka came across as a bold, decent and honest human being. It would be sad if we were to change our opinion of this lady. [ibid]

Well, you already did.

While the media is painting this as another of those timeless love stories that periodically get made into Bollywood movies, we remain skeptics. The age difference is a significant factor. There is more:

The CID bases its theory on the 'other woman' in Rizwanur's life. CID officers claim that Rizwanur wanted to meet this woman on September 21 and was driven to suicide when she did not turn up. [..] CID officers claim this 'important call' was made to the second woman, who stays near Ultadanga. 'He waited for her somewhere near Shyambazar Metro station for a long time and then called her up. From there he went to Belgachia Metro station,' the officer said. The CID, it seem, is bent on trying to prove that his failure to meet this ‘‘other woman’’ hurt him so badly that he went to the extent of committing suicide. [link]

Is it possible that Rizwanur was a playboy?

"I will not come to teach you from tomorrow." This was the last call Rizwanur Rahman made — minutes before his death — to one of his students, a girl in Class XII. CID made this startling claim on Monday, a day before Calcutta High Court is to rule on a petition by Rizwanur's family seeking a CBI probe into his mysterious death.

The call to the girl wasn't the only one Rizwanur made that day. CID says he talked to father-in-law Ashok Todi for four minutes. On Wednesday, Kolkata will learn how, why and under what circumstances Rizwanur met his end on the tracks near Patipukur railway bridge. [link]

The media is hellbent into making this into a Hindutva related issue, a communal issue. For the record, such love stories seem to always feature a Muslim groom and a Hindu bride. The other way around cases usually get dealt with much more swiftly.

CNN-IBN gives an example of another couple,

In the upmarket South Kolkata flat, Mudar and Shalini Patherya look like any other happily married couple getting set for their son's 9th birthday. But today, Rizwanur’s story has made them stop in their tracks. Because it could have happened to them too. In fact the script was pretty much the same. Mudar is Muslim. Shalini is a Marwari. She was 22 and Mudar 30, when they met. He was her journalism teacher and she his student. He earned just enough to get by. She was the daughter of a wealthy businessman. They fell in love and decided to marry. That was 15 years ago. [link]