Walking past the street opposite the Blind School on Raghubir Road in West Delhi’s Khyala, it’s hard to miss the men in uniform including nearly 200 CRPF personnel and local police. The residents of the area are visibly enraged over the killing of a 23-year-old photographer on Thursday night, allegedly by his girlfriend’s family.
Ankit Saxena, a photographer with a private firm in Jwala Heri, was stabbed to death allegedly by his lover Shehzadi’s family. The police had arrested her father Akbar Ali (43), mother Shehnaaz (38), uncle Mohd Salim (40) in connection with the case and apprehended her 16-year-old brother.
Ankit’s immediate family, his mother Kamlesh and father Yash pal, remained inside their first floor residence unable to overcome the grief of their only son.
Ankit’s neighbour, a 36-year-old Chandni* who resides right opposite his house, fed lunch to the family members, she said nobody wants to talk and they’re scared. “We don’t want to talk in front of the camera. Their girl’s relatives live nearby. What if they take out their anger on us,” she said adding that the family also doesn’t want the incident to take a communal shape.
Another neighbour who claimed to be the victim’s uncle, 43-year-old Rakesh* said they would have been able to save him had the incident happened in their street. “The girl’s family found him at the junction a few meters away, that’s why they were able to kill him. Had they tried to attack him in the street where he lives, they wouldn’t have been able to touch him,” he claimed, visibly angry.
About 500 meters away is Shehzadi’s third floor residence which was locked on Saturday. Their neighbours expressed anger at the murder and blamed the act on the accused being from a minority. “Inhone ye dikhaya hai ki ye bhi kuch kar sakte hain. Abhi tak to har badi khabar main ye victim rahe hain (They have shown that they can act. In all the big news so far, they have been the victims),” said Preeti*, a 32-year-old neighbour of the accused’s.
Two other women, standing in the same street also voiced, in a rather high pitch though not high enough for the security personnel to hear, that the ‘they’ should be asked to leave the locality. A couple of others asked them to lower their voice and suggested not to utter such statements.
However, there were also good Samaritans, who helped the CRPF and local police to maintain status quo. A 38-year-old worker at an electrical shop right outside the street, while serving water to the officers said he’ll do his best to make sure there’s peace and tranquility in the area which has been the scenario for the last two days.
“Everything is calm here. People do get agitated and start saying things that can harm the situation but we immediately intervene and disperse them. If you see it with a rational mind, the murder has happened because the girl’s family was against the relationship, not because he was a Hindu,” the worker said adding that the situation, however, is slightly fragile.
In fact, the girl herself is scared to go back to her family. In an interview which was aired on news channels, she said, “I was not at the spot when Ankit was murdered but I got to know from locals that my family members including my uncle have killed him. I fear that my family will kill me too”.
Vijay Kumar, DCP (west) says the girl was produced before Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Saturday from where she was shifted to Nari Niketan. “Concerned over her safety, we recommend CWC to send her to women shelter home.” It is her discretion either to remain in the shelter home or move to a relatives place, he added.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari also met Ankit’s family and demanded that the Delhi Government gives Rs 1 crore compensation. “Delhi BJP demands that Delhi Government like in several other cases in past when it declared Rs 1 crore as compensation to victims should give compensation to the family of Ankit,” he said in a statement.
*names changed to protect identity.
