The Tis Hazari Court in Delhi will announce the sentencing of convicts in the Ankit Saxena murder case on 15th January. The court had earlier pronounced his girlfriend’s parents and maternal uncle guilty of the murder case that shocked West Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar area.
In its verdict, the court had said that Delhi Police was successful in proving that the reason behind the murder of 23-year-old Ankit Saxena, a photographer by profession, was his love affair with a girl who belonged to the Muslim community. The girl’s family was vehemently opposed to the inter-faith relationship.
It was established that on the day of the brutal murder, the girl (Ankit’s girlfriend) had left the house. This angered her family. Her father Akbar Ali, mother Shahnaz Begum, and maternal uncle Mohammad Salim then went on to murder Ankit Saxena by slitting his throat in the middle of the road in Raghubir Nagar in February 2018.
The court had held all three accused guilty of committing the crime with a common intention of murder. Additionally, it also convicted the girl’s mother for assaulting Ankit’s mother. The girl’s minor brother, who is also an accused in this case, is facing trial in the Juvenile Justice Board.
The Tis Hazari Court has directed both the prosecution and defense to submit affidavits in this case. Delhi Police will also submit a report detailing the expenses incurred during the legal proceedings and the compensation intended for the victim’s family. Legal experts note that the law provides for a maximum penalty of death sentence and a minimum of life imprisonment for individuals convicted of murder.
Ankit’s girlfriend was sent to Nari Niketan when she claimed that her life was in danger.
In media interactions, Ankit’s girlfriend had stated that her family members are responsible for the honour killing of her lover Ankit, and she is scared of them.
She had said, ‘When I came to know about (the family’s plan regarding Ankit), I was going to meet him. My family has killed him. My uncle did this.” The girl had told India Today that she and Ankit were going to get married.
Police investigation revealed that the weapon used in the crime belonged to Shehzadi’s father, who is a butcher by profession.
According to the police, the girl’s younger brother, mother, father, and maternal uncle had stopped Ankit on the way. Ankit denied his love affair fearing for his life when he saw knife in their hands. After an altercation, they slit his throat in broad daylight.
The details of the grisly murder case
A Hindu boy named Ankit Saxena was brutally murdered in Delhi, in February 2018, for being in a relationship with a girl named Shehzadi from the Muslim community. The murderers were relatives, including parents, of the girl. Ankit had been under pressure to break his relationship with the girl. Since he did not comply, he was murdered and his throat was slit.
It was revealed that the girl’s family was vehemently against their daughter being in love with a Hindu boy and proceeded to kill him in a pre-planned manner after engineering a road rage incident.
According to eyewitness accounts, Shehzadi’s mother wore a helmet and rode her scooter to the traffic intersection where they knew Ankit was present. She then rammed her scooter into Ankit’s vehicle so that Ankit would be forced to step out to help. As she was wearing a helmet, Ankit could not identify her and stepped out to help.
The woman then confronted Ankit and soon she was joined by her other family members. They all began to heckle and abuse Ankit blaming him that he had influenced Shehzadi to leave the house. A shop owner in the area had stated that when confronted by Shehzadi’s family, Ankit denied being in a relationship with her so that he was left alone. Another resident of the area had stated that Ankit even requested to call the police or be taken to the police station, but the girl’s family just kept beating him.
Neighbours alerted Ankit’s parents of the incident and they had rushed to the spot. But Shehzadi’s mother began attacking Ankit’s mother too who fell down. When Ankit bent down to help his mother get up, the girl’s uncle and brother then caught him by his hair and pulled him up. At that moment, while the two of them held Ankit’s arms from behind, the girl’s father slit his throat using his butchering knife.
However, media reports water downed the grisly murder case and it failed to inspire any outrage as Hindi and English media reports on the incident carefully tried to hide the religion of the accused.
Meanwhile, Ankit Saxena’s father, Yashpal Saxena had become the face of communal harmony after he appealed to everyone not to communalise his son’s murder at the hands of his Muslim girlfriend’s family who disapproved of their inter-religious relationship. He had even organised an inter-faith iftar party in 2018 during Ramzan which was attended by various ‘social activists’.
