A day after the gruesome murder of Neha Hiremath, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest demanding an encounter or extrajudicial killing of her killer, Fayaz. On the morning of Friday, April 19, the ABVP gathered in front of the KLE Technological university in Hubballi in Dharwad district in large numbers after mobilising students from various colleges across the district. At a time, when the city is extremely tense due to Neha’s brutal killing inside her college campus, the ABVP mobilised students from all colleges and screamed hoarse demanding the police either ‘encounter’ Fayaz or hand him over to them. Amidst heavy police presence, the protests took on a determinedly communal tinge as they chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and ‘Bharat mata ki jai’.
Twenty-four-old Neha Hiremath was a first-year MCA student of KLE Technological University who was stabbed to death inside the college campus by her former classmate, Fayaz on April 18. She was the daughter of Hubballi-Dharwad municipality councillor, Niranjan Hiremath. According to the police, Neha and Fayaz were classmates while they were pursuing an undergraduate program. Fayaz tried to initiate a romantic relationship with Neha, who turned him down. Her parents had also threatened Fayaz to stay away from their daughter.
When Neha was leaving her college on April 18 after writing her exam, Fayaz, who was waiting for her at her college, blocked her way and attacked her. He stabbed her multiple times in front of eyewitnesses. Neha was immediately rushed to the hospital, but she died on the way. The attack was also caught on CCTV cameras. Hubballi police arrested Fayaz within two hours of the attack.
“Such incidents did not take place in Hubballi before, while it happened in the rest of the country. Now that such a horrible incident has occurred here, all of us want justice. Everyone remembers the Nirbhaya case. It took years for justice to be given to her. If we do not come together for such incidents, no one can control them later. That’s why we want the murderer to be ‘encountered’, such rules should be brought in the country,” said Netravathi, a student from Chetan Business School.
The protestors also termed the incident to be a case of ‘love jihad’ and held posters claiming “love jihad has come to north Karnataka.” ‘Love jihad’ is a bogey by the Hindu right wing that Muslim men are ‘luring’ Hindu women into marriages to convert them to Islam.
Mounish Gowda, ABVP Hubballi’s organising secretary, said that Karnataka should implement measures along similar lines to the measures taken by Delhi and Telangana following the Nirbhaya and Disha’s rape and murder cases. “Such incidents have now reached north Karnataka as well. The perfect way to serve justice to Neha will only be an ‘encounter’ of Fayaz. If our demands are not met, we will initiate a bigger protest and call for Karnataka wide bandh,” he said.
“I request the police, forget about the orders given by the government. You have a Constitution, Babasaheb Ambedkar has given you rights through the Constitution. I urge you to use those rights and request that you execute a shootout and give justice to those who built this prestigious institute and to Neha’s family,” said another ABVP leader.
Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders also claimed that the incident was a case of ‘love jihad’, while others blamed the Congress government for losing control over the law and order situation in Karnataka. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, who is also contesting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Dharwad constituency, said, “this is an unfortunate incident and I feel there is an angle of love jihad. When the girl refused the boy’s advances, he killed her. The girls are scared, if such things go on, how will they come to college. The law and order situation has collapsed in Karnataka under the Congress government. A certain community also benefits from their appeasement politics.”
Calling it a “classic case of love jihad,” BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said that the murderer's family must pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to the victim’s family and the government must stop any benefits that the victim’s family is receiving.
Speaking to ANI, Union Minister and BJP candidate for Bengaluru North, Shobha Karandlaje said, "The girl was innocent...A minority boy wanted to trap her in 'love jihad'. She did not listen, therefore, she was murdered on the college campus. This is the failure of law and order. We have been saying for many months now that Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara are incompetent at handling the state. There is a massive conspiracy going on with ‘love jihad’.
