Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met the family of Junaid Khan – the 16-year-old boy killed on a train in Haryana by an angry mob – in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Junaid’s parents, Shahira and Jalaludheen, along with his brothers, Hasheem and Shakhir, and other relatives visited the Chief Minister at Kerala House on Wednesday afternoon.
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat and DYFI national president Mohammed Riyas also accompanied the family to Kerala House.
"The family of Junaid, a Madrassa student from Haryana, who was killed by communal fundamentalists in a train came to meet me at Kerala House in Delhi. I have assured them that secular people in the country will be always there with the family," a statement on the official page of the Chief Minister said.
"I Have told them that all help will be given. I have also promised them help to complete the construction of the study centre that the family has begun at Khambi village in UP," CM Pinarayi said in the statement.
16-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death on a train by a mob in June after an argument over seats escalated and he and his companions were abused with religious slurs and were accused of carrying beef in their bags.
Kerala has been in the news for many months over its oppositions to any curbs on consumption of beef. Soon after the Centre brought out a notification in May placing stringent regulations on the sale of cattle for slaughter, CM Pinarayi had written to his counterparts urging them to oppose what he called an attempt to weaken the federal system of the country. The CM had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the notification.