A protest held on Sunday (November 1) near Delhi against the daylight murder of 21-year-old college student Nikita Tomar (Nikita murder case) in Haryana's Ballabhgarh turned violent after the demonstrators clashed against the police on a highway connecting the national capital.
According to reports, the protesters after attending a 'mahapanchayat' meeting had blocked the highway near Ballabhgarh in Faridabad. When the police went in to intervene, a clash ensued which involved the protesters pelting stones at the cops and the authorities resorting to lathi-charge to bring the situation under control.
"Several people have been detained for trying to disrupt law and order situation in Ballabhgarh today on National Highway 2, while 'mahapanchayat' was underway. Permission was not taken to hold the meeting," Sumer Singh, DCP Haryana Police, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Three policemen who were injured in stone-pelting have been admitted to the civil hospital, a report stated.
On Monday, a 21-year-old college student Nikita Tomar was fatally shot in Haryana's Ballabhgarh area in broad daylight while she was returning home from college. A video of the incident has gone viral on the internet.
On Tuesday, the police arrested two persons in connection with the case. The main accused has been identified as Touseef who is a resident of Sona Road in Gurugram, while the other accused has been identified as Rehan who is a resident of Nuh district of Haryana, the police said.
During the police interrogation on Tuesday, Touseef confessed to killing Nikita Tomar. According to an India Today report, Touseef said that he murdered Nikita to exact revenge for his earlier arrest in 2018. "I couldn't study medicine because I was arrested. And hence I took revenge," he said. The same report mentions that Touseef told the police that he killed Nikita Tomar because she was about to get married to someone else.
After the incident, Nikita's family alleged that the murder was linked to love jihad and claimed Touseef wanted her to convert to Islam and marry him. However, Touseef's uncle on Tuesday said that there was no question of love jihad. He condemned the incident and said that it was unfortunate.
The 'mahapanchayat' meeting today was convened at the Dussehra Maidan in Ballabhgarh to discuss the case of murder and the agitation against 'love jihad'.
However, as the meeting was underway, many young men came out on the road and started pelting stones, resulting in a chaotic situation. As a consequence, the police resorted to lathi-charges to neutralise the site. The situation was brought under control after around 20 minutes.
