‘Personal Reasons’: Karnataka Govt Reacts To Campus Killing Of First-Year MCA Student After Love Jihad Charge

Dismissing the political attack and claims of “love jihad”, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on Friday said the murder of daughter of a Congress corporator on a Hubballi college campus was due to “personal reasons”. Deputy CM DK Shivakumar defended the law and order situation in the state, blaming the state Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for trying “to create fear and panic”.

According to police, Neha, a 23-year-old first-year Masters of Computer Applications (MCA) student at BV Bhoomaraddi (BVB) College of Engineering and Technology and daughter of Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) councillor Niranjan Hiremath, was stabbed seven times on the campus by Fayaz, 23, a dropout of the same institute whose advances she had spurned, on Thursday. The CCTV footage showed Fayaz stabbing Neha multiple times before fleeing. The woman died of multiple stab wounds, while Fayaz has been arrested.

Fayaz hails from Munavalli in Savadatti Taluk. His parents, Baba Saheb and Mumtaz, are government school teachers.

Hiremath told ANI: “He was an old student, and he had proposed to my daughter, but she rejected his proposal. She did not like him, and she usually stayed away from all this… She refused his proposal, saying they both belonged to different castes and that she did not wish to have any relationship with him. Out of anger, he stabbed my daughter seven times. The motive of the murder is that the victim rejected the accused’s love proposal… We had a conversation with the accused before the incident where we explained to him that we can’t allow him to get married to her.”

“The accused had fled, but we arrested him within an hour. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered. He has been sent to judicial custody. It is a serious case and we are investigating. In the due course of the investigation, everything will come to light…,” Hubballi Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar told ANI.

The BJP attacked the Congress government, claiming a “love jihad” angle. “This is an unfortunate incident and I believe there is an angle of ‘love jihad’ in this. When the girl refused advances, she was murdered. Under the Congress government, there is no law and order,” Union Minister and BJP leader Pralhad Joshi said. Union Minister and BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje said, “The girl was innocent…He wanted to trap her in ‘love jihad’. She did not listen, therefore, she was murdered on the college campus. This is a failure of law and order.”

Karnataka CM rejected the allegations. “The murder happened due to personal reasons. The law and order situation in Karnataka is good. It is our duty to maintain law and order and we are doing it…”

State Home Minister G Parameshwara claimed that Neha and Fayaz were in a relationship before it soured. “Maybe he stabbed her because she was to marry someone else, but I don’t know the details… As it was a mutual relationship, it doesn’t seem to be a case of love jihad,” Parameshwara said.

Shivakumar said: “The BJP is trying to threaten by showing that there is no law and order in Karnataka. Karnataka has the best law and order. They are just trying to tell voters that they are going to impose Governor’s Rule in the state. They can’t do it. The law will take its course for everyone.”

Meanwhile, ABVP activists staged a protest on the campus and set tyres on fire.

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