Promising justice and offering sympathy, political leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Congress on Tuesday visited the family of the 16-year-old girl who was killed in broad daylight in the Shahbad Dairy area of north-west Delhi.
The girl was stabbed to death allegedly by a 20-year-old youth in full public view. The accused, Sahil, stabbed her more than 20 times and hit her head with stones, while passersby watched, without trying to stop him.
‘Love jihad’ campaign
While AAP hit out at Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena for the deteriorating law and order situation in the Capital, the BJP said that they would run awareness campaigns in the area warning girls of “love jihad”.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “The Delhi government will provide an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh to the victim’s family and will try its best to get the culprit punished severely by the court. Best lawyers will be fielded for this case.”
AAP said the Lieutenant-Governor was only interested in stalling the work of the Delhi government instead of taking care of his constitutionally mandated responsibility of overseeing the law and order in the Capital. Cabinet Minister Atishi who met the victim’s kin said that parents in Delhi are grappling with the question of whether to send their daughters to college and work when girls continue to fall victim of violence on streets.
Women safety
“As a woman and a Minister of the elected government, I earnestly request the L-G to fulfil his constitutional responsibility of improving the law and order in Delhi and prioritising the safety of women instead of hindering the work of Mr. Kejriwal,” Ms. Atishi said.
AAP Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said Delhi residents have lost faith in the Capital’s law and order system. He asked the L-G as to how many police stations had he visited in the past year. “The L-G has zero accountability,” Mr. Bharadwaj added.
BJP MP Hans Raj Hans said the people of Delhi as well as the Central government are distressed over the murder of the girl by a Muslim youth. North West District BJP president Vinod Sehrawat said that several cases of “love jihad” were coming to the fore in many settlement colonies of mixed population of north-west Delhi. “There is a need to run an awareness campaign among the young girls,” Mr. Sherawat said.
The Delhi Congress accused the BJP and AAP of playing a blame game every time they are held accountable. Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary, who also visited the family members of the victim said, “Several such incidents have happened since 2013, but whenever the government is held accountable, Arvind Kejriwal and the L-G start their blame game.”
