Bageshwar Dham chief and controversial preacher Dhirendra Krishna Shastri on Tuesday termed the brutal killing a 16-year-old girl in Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy as a case of “love jihad”.
“The whole world witnessed a live jihad incident involving a girl. Now, it is imperative for all of us to unite and establish a Hindu Rashtra. Despite concerns that my statement might incite riots, I will persist in advocating for Sanatan Dharma.”
“Love jihad” is a term frequently employed by right-wing activists to allege a strategy in which Muslim men purportedly entice Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
The victim, Sakshi, was brutally stabbed with a knife more than 20 times and her skull ruptured with a cement slab by Sahil, a 20-year-old mechanic in a busy street on Saturday. The CCTV footage of the crime which went viral on social media triggered shock waves across the country.
The accused, who fled from Delhi after the incident, was arrested from Bulandsher, Uttar Pradesh on Monday, following a lead from a phone call made by Sahil’s aunt to his father. It was revealed that Sahil had turned off his mobile phone after the incident and had taken a bus to his aunt’s residence in Bulandshahr.
Earlier in the day, a Delhi court granted Delhi Police permission to interrogate Sahil in judicial custody.
Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Jyoti Nain took note of the plea made by the interrogators seeking two-day police custody of Sahil.
According to the police, the accused, Sahil, meticulously planned the murder for two days and carried out the attack on Sunday as Sakshi had rebuffed him in front of her friends and refused to continue their relationship.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva had on Monday said the gruesome incident was a “love jihad” case. “The brutal murder of a Hindu girl by youth Sahil Sarfaraz in Shahbad has once again shown that Love Jihad has now rocked Delhi as well,” Sachdeva said.
Sachdeva alleged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was afraid of losing the votes of minority community and alleged the AAP convenor was “portraying” it as an “ordinary” murder instead of “love jihad”.
“The red Kalawa tied on the hand of arrested Sahil Sarfaraz clearly showed that he is a member of Love Jihad gang working in a well-planned manner,” Sachdeva claimed.
Sachdeva said locals informed him that the accused was harassing and the minor girl for “a long time”. It is “regrettable” that the Chief Minister of Delhi was “trying to portray” the “brutal killing” of a Hindu girl as a law and order issue, whereas it is a case of “Love jihad”, Sachdeva said.
He accused Kejriwal of indulging in “political appeasement”.
(With inputs from PTI)
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