Representative image of a police officer.
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While the murder of 23-year-old Neha Hiremath in Hubballi was shocking and deserved to be condemned in the strongest terms, the communalisation and politicisation of the issue by the BJP for electoral gains has diverted the people’s and government’s attention from the horrific crime itself to imaginary conspiracies, and therefore that too must be condemned. Neha, daughter of Congress corporator Niranjan Hiremath, and who was a student at KLE Technological University, was stabbed to death on April 18, allegedly by her former classmate, Fayaz Khondunaik.
She had reportedly rejected Fayaz’s marriage proposal. The BJP found in this an opportunity to put forward its ‘love jihad’ conspiracy theory. The party also alleged that the ruling Congress was protecting the accused, though he was arrested within hours of the crime. While the police action was swift, the Congress party and the government could have addressed the issue with greater despatch, even as the BJP was using the incident to polarise society on communal lines.
By the time Chief Minister Siddaramaiah spoke to the victim’s father, assuring him of a fair investigation, and transferred the case to the CID, some damage had already been done. Siddaramaiah has also announced that the case will be tried by a special court.
This is not the first time that such inter-religious murders with a love angle have been reported in Karnataka. But the BJP was silent in the case of at least two similar incidents as the victims in those belonged to the minority community, thus showing its double standards and lack of respect for the rule of law.
On April 14, the Bengaluru police arrested one Pradeep on charges of killing his partner Ruksana, whose charred body had been found a few days earlier. Pradeep, who was already married, entered into the relationship with Ruksana and had a child with her. The accused told the police that he murdered her because he did not want to marry her as she had been insisting. In 2021, the Belagavi police arrested Pundalik Mutgekar of Sri Ram Sena Hindustan for allegedly decapitating 24-year-old Arbaaz for being in a relationship with a Hindu girl. According to the police, the parents of the girl had approached the accused after she refused to call off the relationship.
It is unfortunate that such crimes are taking place in Karnataka, which was described by poet-laureate Kuvempu as a land where people of all faiths live in harmony. The BJP, which has been proved wrong many times in the past in similar situations, should stop selectively communalising law-and-order issues for electoral gains. These are matters for the police to do their job without pressure or bias. Political parties must not jump in and vitiate the process and rule of law.