‘This isn’t justice’ — Ankit Saxena’s mother demands death penalty after 3 get life term for his murder

Six yrs after murder, Delhi court says prosecution managed to prove that manner of Saxena's death was 'homicidal', handed life term to his Muslim girlfriend’s parents & uncle.

File photo of a candle march for Ankit Saxena in 2018 | Photo: PTI

New Delhi: A Delhi court Thursday awarded life sentences to three people for their involvement in the 2018 murder of Ankit Saxena. The 23-year-old was allegedly stabbed to death by the family of his Muslim girlfriend, Shehzadi.

Six years after the killing, Delhi’s Tis Hazari court awarded the punishment to Shehzadi’s parents, Akbar Ali and Shahnaz Begum, and her uncle, Mohammad Salim. Shehzadi’s family were against her relationship with Saxena since he was from a different community.

However, to Saxena’s mother Kamlesh, this isn’t justice. “At least the man who killed my son — Akbar Ali — should have been given capital punishment,” she said to ThePrint.

A Delhi court had, in December last year, convicted Salim, Akbar Ali and Shahnaz Begum and charged them under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder), and 34 (common intention). Begum was also convicted under IPC section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt).

“The case went on for six long years. My husband Yashpal died of Covid. I lost my only son. Now the court has only given them life imprisonment. How is this justice? Akbar Ali deserves the death penalty,” said Kamlesh, who now lives alone in West Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar.

On 1 February, 2018, Saxena — a budding photographer and an only child — was stabbed to death in broad daylight and in full public view.

That day, Shehzadi’s family had waylaid Saxena and, following an argument with his friends and parents — who stepped in to try and protect him — stabbed him multiple times, allegedly with a butcher’s knife. Kamlesh, too, was allegedly manhandled by the accused when she tried to intervene. Saxena was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

According to the police, Shehzadi’s family found out about her relationship with Saxena after discovering phone calls and texts between them on her phone. Shehzadi was taken to Nari Niketan after the incident and was later sent to her relative’s house.

While convicting the three persons Thursday, the court relied on the testimony of the doctor who conducted Saxena’s autopsy, and said that the prosecution had managed to prove that Saxena’s death was caused by “a sharp-edged weapon” and that the manner of the death was “homicidal”.

“Ankit will not come back and this judgment won’t let his soul be at peace,” said Kamlesh. “I have lost everything in these past six years.”