Sahitya Akademi Winner Donates Prize Money to Lynching Victim Junaid's Family

New Delhi: Noted Malayalam author KP Ramanunni donated his Sahitya Akademi prize money to the mother of Hafiz Junaid Khan, the teenage boy who was killed on a train in Haryana for allegedly carrying beef.

Ramanunni handed over the money to Junaid’s mother after receiving the award in New Delhi on Monday. He kept a token amount Rs 3 from the total prize money of Rs 1 lakh and gave the rest to the deceased’s family.

KP Ramanunni, who is quite vocal against religious extremism, won the award for his book 'God's Own Book', which talks of harmony among Hindus and Muslims.

“Junaid is someone who was killed by Hindu communal forces for just being a Muslim. Let me place this award amount as an offering at the feet of Junaid's mother as an act of penance for that wicked sin, for penance is a special observance in true Hindu tradition,” Ramanunni said.

Junaid was allegedly stabbed to death on a local train in Haryana last year after a mob accused him and his relatives of carrying beef in a bag. The sixteen-year-old was stabbed multiple times by a mob on the Delhi-Mathura train in Ballabgarh, Haryana, on June 24. He succumbed to his injuries after nobody helped him reach a hospital.

“In the present Indian situation, 'God's Own Book' (Daivathinte Pustakam) bears an enormous political mission and that is to uphold the love for other religions, something that is cherished by true Hinduism. Also to build a conceptual foundation for religious amity and to put up a bulwark against the country's catastrophic slide into communal ruin,” he said, adding that 'Daivathinte Pusthakam' is a book where the prophet, Muhammad Nabi, calls Krishnan ‘Ikka’ (elder brother) and Krishnan affectionately calls the Prophet ‘Mushy’ (precious dear).

KP Ramanunni received an anonymous threat letter last year. The letter, allegedly sent by Muslim extremists, warned him that his right arm and left leg would be chopped off if he did not convert to Islam within six months.

The sixty two-year-old’s first novel, Sufi Paranja Katha, had also won Kerala Sahitya Akademi award in 1995 while ‘Jeevithathinte Pusthakam’ bagged the 2011 Vayalar award.

Twenty four authors were awarded at the Sahitya Akademi Awards event in New Delhi on Tuesday.