Nikita Tomar murder: High court dismisses plea of two accused

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed the plea from two persons who are accused of murdering Nikita Tomar, a 21-yearold student of Ballabhgarh in Faridabad, on October 26, 2020.

The high court bench of justice Sudip Ahluwalia acted on the plea of Tohsif and Mohammad Rihan, who had alleged that police conducted probe hurriedly and filed challan in 11 days. It was further argued that as the accused happens to be a Muslim boy, the entire incident attracted a lot of media coverage and was portrayed as a case of ‘love Jihad’.

They had alleged that police had simply gone by whatever stories had been circulated in the media and did not even wait for forensic reports.

A final-year commerce student Nikita Tomar was shot dead on October 26 outside her college in Ballabhgarh, where she had gone to take an exam.

After shooting Tomar, Tohsif and his accomplice Rehan fled in a car.

The court, while dismissing the plea, observed that there is no illegality in submitting the challan by investigating authorities within 11 days after the date of occurrence of an incident, since no minimum time to do so is prescribed in the law.

The court further stated that investigating authorities are not prevented from submitting any supplementary chargesheet or further evidence. The court added that the hype surrounding any so perceived ‘sensational’ case in the media at large is likely to attract its own share of attention, public curiosity, discussion and reaction.