Hindutva outfits seek justice for Haryana woman

MEERUT: Hindutva organizations like Vishva Hindu Parishad( VHP), Bajrang Dal and Karni Sena held a panchayat in Hapur’s Raghunathpur village in western Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, seeking justice for the 20-year-old woman who was shot dead in Faridabad, Haryana, on Monday and demanded capital punishment for her alleged killer. They also raised the issue of alleged forced conversion of the woman, a BCom final year student.

The woman’s family members were originally residents of Raghunathpur village, but were now settled in Ballabgarh, Haryana.

Bhupendra Tomar, divisional secretary of Karni Sena, claimed that hundreds of people from Saatha Chaurasi (60 villages with a sizeable population of Rajputs) attended the panchayat in which they demanded capital punishment for the accused and adequate compensation for the woman’s family. They wanted the case to be heard in a fast track court, he said.

Additional superintendent of police (Hapur) Sarvesh Mishra said 200 to 300 people participated in the panchayat, which went on for three hours and thereafter they handed over a memorandum to acting sub divisional magistrate Pankaj Saxena. Heavy force was deployed in and around the venue of the panchayat, which ended peacefully, said Mishra.

Tomar said Bajrang Dal’s state president Gaurav Raghav and many other leaders addressed the panchayat and expressed anger over the incident. Tomar claimed it was a case of forced conversion because the same accused had kidnapped the woman in 2018 and the matter was settled through a compromise at the time. He said the accused belong to a strong political family, so the issue had died down then and police were negligent in providing security to the girl.

He said the panchayat decided to launch a movement if justice was denied to the family. Earlier, ashes of the woman were immersed in the Ganga in Garhmukteshwar.