The untimely death of Neha, the young Hindu girl from Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh, who was shot dead by her husband Asif on September 25 (Friday), has left her family reeling in shock. Mourning the death of his younger sister, one of Neha’s brother said in an angry tone: “Neha was dead for me the day she went against our wishes to marry that boy… see what he did, he killed her”.
Neha’s distressed family in Badaun refuses to speak to the media
A Bajrang Dal activist who met the deceased’s brother told OpIndia that a strange sense of angst, as well as helplessness, has encompassed Neha’s family. Vivek Mishra, the activist told us that Neha’s brother, who evidently looked deeply anguished, refuses to speak to the media or give any statement saying: “I had broken all ties with her, I don’t wish to speak about her”. Vivek Mishra confirmed that Neha’s parents had died long ago and she had two brothers Ashish and Raj.
Love Jihad in Uttar Pradesh Badaun
This unfortunate incident was reportedly yet another case of Love Jihad, the ongoing racket in Uttar Pradesh. The Badaun police arrested the accused Asif on September 27 (Sunday), The next day, they also arrested his accomplice Taufiq alias Bablu and sent both of them to jail. Asif has reportedly confessed of shooting his wife dead. According to SO Sudhakar Pandey, Asif had taken his friend Taufiq alias Bablu’s help to plan the murder. Asif also confessed of trying to frame Neha’s brother for the murder of his sister.
In what transpired, Asif, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district in the Civil Lines police station area met Neha one and a half years ago in Delhi, where they worked. He introduced himself to Neha as a Hindu, named ‘Rajkumar’. The two fell in love and decided to marry each other. Neha’s brother was not in favour of the marriage, but Neha went against the wishes of her family to marry Asif aka Rajkumar.
After a few days, Asif’s identity was revealed in front of Neha. This led to regular fights between the couple. Irritated by these tiffs, Asif conspired to kill his wife.
On the pretext of making her meet his family members, Asif brought Neha to his village in Badaun. Here, he took the help of his friend Taufiq. As per reports, the duo called Neha to Meera Sarai Sheikhupur Road near Gandhi Ground and shot her dead.
Accused Asif tried to frame his wife’s brother for the murder
Fearing arrest, Asif tried to frame Neha’s brother for the murder. After shooting Neha, Asif himself took her to the hospital, where she was declared brought dead. He then went to the police station and filed a murder complaint against Neha’s brother. The Badaun police which sensed that Asif was lying, started interrogating Asif, and he soon confessed to his crime.
The growing menace of ‘Love Jihad’ in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh has recently been in the limelight as several cases of forced conversions of women on the pretext of marriage reported from the city that has fueled suspicions about a new model of entrapping Hindu women gaining a foothold in the city. However, the menace of Love Jihad is just not confined to this state. It has rapidly been spreading its tentacles across many parts of the country, where very young, even minor Hindu women are being targeted by Muslim men, often under false identities, lured and brainwashed, forcefully converted to Islam, tortured, raped and then either killed or abandoned.
Recently, we reported at least 20 such cases reported from UP and other states in the last 2 months. Seeing the alarming rate at which such cases have been raising its ugly head in Uttar Pradesh, the Kanpur Police have formed an eight-member Special Investigation Team(SIT) to investigate the rising number of forced conversions done on the pretext of marriage.
