Sitting on the bed in their one-room house on the first floor in Khyala’s Raghubir Nagar, Ankit Saxena’s father Yashpal Saxena (59) said that he and his wife Kamlesh now see a semblance of normalcy.
Ankit, a 23-year-old photographer, was stabbed to death by the family members of a 20-year-old alleged girlfriend Shehzadi in February. The police had said that the couple was in a relationship for the past three years and that the girl’s family was against their relationship as they belonged to different communities.
While looking at Ankit’s pictures on his phone, Mr. Saxena said that he wishes to keep his memory alive by “starting something connected with the youth”. We plan to start Ankit Saxena Trust, he said, adding that he has been in talks with an NGO which is helping him to materialise the idea. “The Trust will essentially work towards ‘Aman’ [peace and harmony]. It will also help those who want to marry out of their religion or caste,” he said.
The parents said that it’s tough to move on when they’ve lost their only son but are now trying to revive their motor bells manufacturing business which they used to run about two years ago.
‘No word from CM’
Mr. Saxena claims to have visited the nearby market for the first time after Ankit’s death, on Wednesday. “People have a lot of sympathy for us. Whoever, I met wanted to talk to me but I just don’t know how to respond,” he said.
The parents said their demand remains that those responsible for Ankit’s murder should be hanged. They, however, don’t know who their lawyer is. “Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that he’ll help us with a good lawyer; he even made calls in front of me but nothing has been communicated from his side so far,” the father said.
Mr. Saxena said that he wants to revive Ankit’s YouTube channel ‘Awaara Boy’ but doesn’t know how to. “I’ll seek help from his friends and do something,” he said.
Girl’s family thankful
Meanwhile, Shehzadi’s maternal aunt and her two daughters have moved out of Raghubir Nagar to a rented accommodation in Uttam Nagar because of the alleged “shame, taunts and unsolicited questions”.
However, the aunt’s daughters re-opened their beauty parlour on April 10 in Raghubir Nagar after over two months, and thanked Ankit’s parents for “not communalising the matter else it would have become impossible for us to return to work here”.
The sisters claim that their mother have only met Shehzadi’s mother once or twice in the jail for reasons they “don’t know”.
However, Shehzadi’s 12-year-old sister is living with them, they said. The duo also claimed that they haven’t met or spoken to Shehzadi since the incident.
“The last time we spoke to her was in Khyala Police Station on the night of the incident. We had asked her why did she run away, to which she had replied, ‘ Aapa , if I had known it’ll lead to his murder, I wouldn’t have gone’,” the cousin said.
A senior police officer investigating the case refused to share Shehzadi’s whereabouts but said that she is in a safe place.
“She was counselled for a couple of days. We feared she’ll take her life because the person she loved was killed, her parents are in jail, and all her relatives refused to take care of her,” he said.
