Hubballi murder: Mother of accused demands strict punishment for son
Says it was Neha who made first move and took his phone number
Hubballi (Karnataka), Apr 20: The mother of 23-year-old Fayaz, who killed daughter of a Congress councillor inside a college campus in Hubballi, apologised to the victim Neha's family for her son's act and demanded strict punishment for him.
There have been protests in several parts of the state demanding capital punishment for Fayaz, who has been arrested in connection with the incident that occurred on April 18.
With folded arms and tears in eyes, the accused's mother Mamtaz, a teacher said, "I apologise to the people of Karnataka as well as Neha's family for what my son has done. It is a great injustice to Neha and her family.
"What my son has done is completely wrong and we hang our heads in shame. What he did is a big mistake and he should be given strict punishment as per the law of the land," she said.
ALSO READ: Congress Corporator's daughter stabbed to death inside college campus in Hubballi
Speaking to reporters in Dharwad, she said that her son and Neha were not just friends but that they were in love and wanted to marry.
Recalling Neha as a good girl, Mamtaz said she came to know about their relationship a year ago.
"It was Neha who made the first move and took his phone number. My son did tell me about Neha and that he was in love with her and they wanted to get married. But I had suggested that he first focus on his career.
"My son was very brilliant and always secured above 90 percent marks since LKG and UKG days. He wanted to become an IAS officer and was also a University Blue (bodybuilding competition) champion," she said.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Saturday visited the victim's family and offered condolences.
Condemning the incident, he said, "It was an inhumane act. The way Fayaz murdered Neha, it was inhumane. It is a condemnable act and I insist that the state government, Chief Minister and Home Minister conduct an impartial and speedy inquiry into the matter."
The murder of the daughter of the city corporation councillor on the campus of her college here has sparked widespread condemnation and protests.
The issue has snowballed into a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP in Karnataka. While the ruling party has tried to project it as an "incident with a personal angle", the saffron party suspects "love jihad" and said that it points to the "deterioration of law and order" in the state.
Neha (23), the daughter of Congress Councillor of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Niranjan Hiremath, was stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College on Thursday. The accused Fayaz Khondunaik, who fled the scene, was arrested by police subsequently.
Neha was a first-year MCA student and Fayaz was her former classmate.
According to a senior police officer, Fayaz stabbed her multiple times. During interrogation, he claimed that the two had been in a relationship but she had been avoiding him of late.
"It needs to be corroborated and verified, but he was arrested immediately," the officer said.
In Munavalli, Fayaz's hometown in Belagavi district, the incident sparked outrage and demonstrations have been held by various organisations condemning the murder.
The victim's family has been demanding that the accused be hanged to death and only then will their daughter's soul rest in peace.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
