Karnataka murder accused's mother seeks forgiveness

The mother of a 23-year-old man who killed the daughter of a Karnataka Congress corporator inside a college campus in Hubballi, has sought forgiveness from the people of the state on behalf of her son. She said what her son Fayaz did was “wrong”.

On Thursday, Fayaz attacked Neha, his former classmate and a Masters of Computer Applications (MCA) student, inside the premises of the BVB College campus.

CCTV footage of the incident captured him stabbing the 23-year-old victim multiple times before fleeing from the spot.

The accused has been arrested, and the police said the victim died of multiple stab wounds.

In a statement to reporters, Fayaz’s mother Mumtaz said, “On behalf of my son, I seek forgiveness from all the people of Karnataka. I seek forgiveness from the parents of the girl as well. She is also like my daughter.”

“I am not differentiating here at all. I know how they must be grieving. I am equally sorrowful. What my son did is wrong. No matter who it is, what is done is wrong,” she added.

A tearful Mumtaz further said that her son should be punished for his crime according to the law of the land.

But in a controversial remark, she said her son and the victim “were in love with each other... I have known about this for the last year”.

This was in complete contradiction to what Neha’s father, Niranjan Hiremath said of his daughter’s relationship with Fayaz.

Speaking to a local TV channel, Hiremath said his daughter “was only pursuing her education and did not have any relations with the accused”.

“They were only friends while in college, not lovers,” the Congress corporator said, alleging that Neha rejected and refused Fayaz’s proposals every single time that he made his advances.

“She told him earlier that she would file a complaint against him if he continued with his proposals.”

Previously as well, Hiremath had said that Fayaz “proposed to my daughter, but she rejected his proposal”.

“She did not like him, and she usually stayed away from all this... She refused his proposal, saying they both belonged to different castes and that she did not wish to have any relationship with him. Out of anger, he stabbed my daughter."

The incident has led to protests in Karnataka and a sparring match between the opposition BJP and ruling Congress over a 'love jihad' angle in the case.

"This is an unfortunate incident and I believe there is an angle of 'love jihad' in this. When the girl refused (the guy’s) advances, she was murdered. Under the Congress government, law and order is not there," Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said.

'Love jihad' is a phrase popularised by Hindutva organisations to denote the relationship between a Muslim man and a non-Muslim woman where the Muslim partner wishes to convert the non-Muslim.

However, the Karnataka government firmly rejected those allegations. State Home Minister G Parameshwara claimed that Neha and Fayaz were in a relationship before it soured.