Days after a 51-year-old businessman was stabbed to death, allegedly for resisting youths who passed lewd remarks at his daughter in West Delhi, his family told The Quint that the matter should not be made communal.
There was no communal angle, the four just happened to be Muslims, they say.
The murder took place on Sunday, 12 May, when Dhruv Raj Tyagi confronted the accused men who allegedly sexually harassed his 26-year-old daughter Sheela (name changed) on the road. Sheela’s 19-year-old brother Anand (name changed) also sustained injuries in the brawl.
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Sheela, at whom the lewd remarks were allegedly directed, says,
“It is true that those who attacked my father and brother are Muslims, but there were other Hindus who watched and did nothing to save them.”
While Sheela accused onlookers of inaction, her uncle Tapreshwar Tyagi called the communal spin given to the incident,
“The handiwork of the WhatsApp university, who have nothing better to do [...] The man who took my brother and his son to the hospital is a Muslim.”
Riyaz – Dhruv’s neighbour who took him and his son to the hospital – says those attempting to communalise the incident must remember that no one came forward to help the family on the night that it really mattered.
“Even today, no one here is willing to speak about what had happened that night. There are so many eyewitnesses, including Hindu neighbours. But they are all silent.”Riyaz
Who Communalised the Killing?
Soon after the incident in the wee hours of Sunday, 12 May, certain posts and messages claimed it was a communal attack. Some even branded the accused “jihadis” and “terrorists”.
Sequence of Events
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, 11 May, Dhruv was returning from the clinic with his 26-year-old daughter Sheela, who had gone to the doctor for a migraine attack.
According to her, when the father-daughter duo entered their lane in Basai Dadarpur village, three youths had made “an indecent gesture and passed lewd remarks at her.” Battling a severe headache, Sheela ignored the remarks and thought that her father had not heard or seen them. Sheela’s father dropped her at home, but did not come upstairs.
“I thought he hadn’t heard the boys. But after dropping me home, he went to talk to their parents about the incident. But instead of listening to him, the three boys called their family members, who came equipped with a knife and stones. When my brother reached the spot, he tried to shield my father as he was being stabbed. But he too was pushed to the side and stabbed.”Sheela
By the time Sheela and her mother made it downstairs, her father and brother had already been stabbed. Sheela says she tried protecting them, but was pushed away. “They were talking about shooting at us. I was really scared,” she said.
Do the Accused Have a Criminal History?
So far, police have arrested the chief accused, 20-year-old Shamsher Alam, his two brothers, and their father Jehangir Khan.
Both Sheela and her paternal uncle Tapeshwar believe that the attack was planned – and that the accused could have a criminal history. Sheela says the women family members of the accused had quickly brought down weapons with which her father and brother were reportedly attacked.
“The way the attack unfolded and the way women in the family passed down the knife and stones, it seems that the family could have a criminal history,” she said. Her uncle Tapeshwar said that he had heard about the family having a criminal history too, but that he couldn’t offer any specifics.
However, Additional DCP West Sameer Sharma told The Quint that none of the four persons arrested have any prior criminal record. His colleague, Sandeep Kumar, SHO, Moti Nagar confirmed that they had searched the criminal database for any mention of the family members, but had not been able to find any record so far.
Where Did the Accused Come From?
Locals say the four who have been arrested belong to a family of migrants from Bihar, who have been living on rent for the past 10 years. Shamsher, the prime accused, was recently married and used to sell biryani on a hand cart. His school friend, Sanjay Kumar, who says they would only exchange greetings in passing, said that Shamsher would often get drunk and loiter late at night.
“He would often misbehave and fight with people. So, I would always keep a distance from him and we didn’t talk much,” said Kumar. Others in the locality, too, confirmed that Shamsher was into drugs and would have scuffles with locals.
While the Tyagi family grieves the loss of a father and hopes for the recovery of the other injured member, metres away, the home rented by family of the accused, wears a deserted look. Ever since Shamsher, his two brothers and their father were arrested, the women members of the family have gone missing. All that remains are locked doors and clothes strewn all over the open verandah on the first floor.
Is Social Media to Blame?
A small plastic tent has been placed over the lane just outside Dhruv’s residence. Seated under its shade are community elders, who break their silence only when approached. One of them is Anant Tyagi, a local BJP politician, who is also Dhruv’s relative.
Speaking to mediapersons, he says that a panchayat will decide on “eviction of all Muslim tenants in the locality.” He later adds that there is pressure from villagers that “police verification of all tenants” must be carried out.
But his views don’t resonate with the rest of the men gathered. Among them is 81-year-old Vaid Tyagi, Dhruv’s father. “For me the religion of the accused doesn’t matter. I just want the police to carry our verification of all tenants living here to rule out the possibility of criminals,” he adds.
About Anant’s comment, the 81-year-old father says, “He has always been an RSS man, so he is bound to talk like that. I am a humanist. I have rented out my properties to Muslims. I don’t think there’s any problem with them.”
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