Hubballi college student Neha laid to rest; students, Hindu groups stage protest in parts of state

HUBBALLI, BELAGAVI, BENGALURU: Neha Hiremath, the daughter of Congress HDMC corporator Niranjan Hiremath was laid to rest a day after she was brutally stabbed by Mohammed Fayaz on the BVB College campus on Thursday. Fayaz had stabbed nine times and fled the scene, as Neha bled to death, on Thursday.

Students staged a huge protest on the college campus.

Several student groups and Hindu organisations staged protest in Hubballi, Dharwad, at Munavalli in Belagavi district, Ballari and also at Mysore Bank Circle in Bengaluru condemning the brutal murder and to demand strict action against the attacker.

The post-mortem examination was conducted at KIMS hospital in Hubballi following which the body of Neha was taken out in a procession accompanied by a massive crowd for 3 km to the Veerashaiva Jangama Rudrabhoomi where the last rites were conducted.

ABVP activists stage a protest in Bengaluru.

Hubballi-Dharwad Veena Bharadwaj paid her last respects at the KIMS mortuary. Minister Santosh Lad and MLA Prasad Abbayya visited the house of Niranjan Hiremath and condoled the family. The minister also had to face the anger of BJP workers as he emerged from the house. Moorusavira Math seer Guru Siddarajayogindra Swami and Independent candidate Dingaleshwara Swami also called on the bereaved family.

The funeral procession almost turned into a protest with the crowd raising slogans demanding justice for Neha. Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumaran said it is the right of students to protest and assured that justice will be done. “The accused was arrested in one hour of the incident and an FIR was filed. All information regarding the incident has been given to the family”, she added.

Neha’s grieving parents.

The police had deployed heavy security at BVB College after the Hindu Jagaran Vedike, Sri Rama Sene, Vishwa Hindu Parishad staged a protest in front of the college demanding justice for Neha. They had also installed a huge cutout of her. Some of the student protesters held placards demanding ‘jihadi’ Fayaz should be hanged to death.

The locked house of Fayaz’s parents at Munavalli in Savadatti taluk.

Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Mutalik said, “There is no security for students. The attack was carried out in ISIS style and maybe he underwent training. The parents of the accused are teachers. The Congress then sided with the British and is now taking the side of the Muslims. The law and order situation has become hopeless. The accused should be eliminated in an encounter and the Jamat-e-Islam should issue a fatwa against him. No lawyers, including Muslims, should take up his case, or else we will stage a huge protest”.

A protest was staged in Munavalli too.

Meanwhile, Munavalli town in Savadatti taluk of Belagavi district, the hometown of Mohammed Fayaz, is observing a bandh for three days from Friday to condemn the brutal murder of Neha Hiremath. Several organisatons have launched a social media campaign to seek justice for Neha while calling the murder as a case of ‘love jihad’.

Belagavi district Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar Guled speaking to the media at Munavallli.

As a precautionary measure, the family of the accused Fayaz has been taken into protective custody by the Belagavi district police and their house has been locked. Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar Guled said, “There was a tense atmosphere, but it is peaceful now. The people have said there will be mourning for three days, but if shops and commercial establishments are closed forcibly, we will intervene. We have already deployed 100 civil policemen and one company of the CAPF. Public anger is directed at the accused and not at his family members. No one has gone towards their house and I thank the people for maintaining peace”.