Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday urged Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to take strict action over the murder of a minor girl in Shahbad Dairy in Delhi and said it was his responsibility to maintain law and order in the city.
Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal wrote, "A minor girl was brutally murdered in Delhi. This is very sad and unfortunate. The criminals have become fearless, there is no fear of the police. LG sir, law and order is your responsibility, do something."
The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party however on Monday claimed the gruesome stabbing of a minor girl in the Shahabad Dairy area of northwest Delhi was a case of "love jihad", and slammed the Aam Aadmi Party for "trying to portray" it as an "ordinary" murder and a law and order issue.
In a statement, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the case should be tried in a fast track court.
No reaction was immediately available from the AAP over the BJP's charge.
But senior AAP leader Atishi also slammed the lieutenant governor (L-G) and said the Constitution has given the L-G the "responsibility of protecting people" of the Union Territory.
"I want to remind the L-G that the Constitution has given him the responsibility of protecting the people of Delhi. But he spends all his time to halt the work of Arvind Kejriwal. I request the L-G with folded hands to pay attention to the safety of the women of Delhi as they are not safe here at all," she tweeted.
The 16-year-old girl was stabbed to death allegedly by her boyfriend Sahil in northwest Delhi's Shahbad Dairy, a video of which is being widely shared on social media, police said on Monday.
The accused allegedly stabbed her multiple times before bludgeoning her with a stone.
"The brutal murder of a Hindu girl by youth Sahil Sarfaraz in Shahbad has once again shown that Love Jihad has now rocked Delhi as well," Sachdeva said.
"Love jihad" is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Reacting to the incident, BJP leader Kapil Mishra said, "This painful murder has happened in Delhi. Shraddha has not got justice yet. Do not know how many more Shraddhas will become victims of this brutality."
Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal slammed the Delhi police and alleged that "no one is afraid" of the police or law in the national capital.
"What was the fault of the 16-year-old girl that she was brutally killed on the road? No one is afraid of police and law in Delhi. There will be no limits to cruelty if there is no action in this case," she said.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) also asked the Delhi police to take strict action in the case.
Calling the incident "extremely disturbing and appalling", it said, "chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to commissioner of police, Delhi to conduct a fair and time-bound investigation in the matter and to arrest the accused at the earliest. The Commission has formed a three-member team headed by member Delina Khongdup to look into the matter."
The women rights body said its team will be visiting the family of the victim and also the police officials concerned for further inquiry. The commission has also sought invoking of relevant provisions in the FIR if the allegations levelled are found to be true, the NCW said.
The body of the victim, a resident of JJ Colony in Shahbad Dairy, was found lying in the street, a senior police officer said.
She was passing through the street when she was intercepted by the accused, who stabbed her multiple times, the officer said.
The couple was in a relationship but had a quarrel on Saturday. On Sunday, the victim planned to attend the birthday party of her friend's son but was intercepted and stabbed repeatedly. She was also hit with a stone, he added.
The police said the post-mortem will confirm how many times the victim was stabbed.
The accused, identified as Sahil (20), has been arrested from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, the police added.
