A Delhi court sentenced three people to life in prison on Thursday for the murder that claimed the life of 23-year-old Ankit Saxena in Raghubir Nagar, west Delhi, in February 2018. The reason for Ankit’s death was that he was in an interfaith relationship with some of their relatives.
Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma of extra sessions sentenced the defendant to life in prison, citing factors such as age, background, antecedents, and prior labour.
The court also imposed fines of 50,000 each on the three people found responsible for the girl’s murder—her mother Shehnaz Begum, her father Akbar Ali, and her uncle Muhammad Salim. This money would be provided to Ankit Saxena’s family as compensation.
Due to their disapproval of their relationship, Ankit Saxena’s parents, brother, and maternal uncle fatally stabbed him on February 1, 2018. In an attempt to save her son, Ankit’s mother, Kamlesh, hurried to the street where her boyfriend’s family was thrashing him. A knife had sliced his throat right in front of her eyes. She was also attacked.
Saxena’s family and other people drove him in an e-rickshaw to Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, but he passed away before getting there.
On December 23, 2023, the judge found the three guilty, ruling that the prosecution had successfully established the murder and the relationship between Ankit and his lover Shehadi, which preceded the murder, in plain sight of the public.
The court found the three guilty in December of the charges brought against them under Sections 34 (acts committed by multiple people in furtherance of a common intention) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In addition, the court found Shahnaz Begum guilty of attacking Kamlesh Saxena, Saxena’s mother, for attempting to defend her son in violation of Section 323 of the IPC (voluntarily causing hurt).
The prosecution called 28 witnesses, the principal ones being Saxena’s mother, father, and friends Anmol and Nitin.
In 2018, following Ankit’s death, tensions erupted in the lower-middle-class neighbourhood of Raghubir Nagar, prompting multiple attempts by local authorities to further communalize the hate crime case. However, Yashpal, Ankit’s father, and the friends of his son publicly protested against this.