A 19-year-old girl was knifed to death on Thursday night in a crowded New Delhi market because she had complained against her stalker.
Witnesses in a market at Punjabi Basti colony in Anand Parbat were left terrified when 22-year-old accused Jai Prakash, who had been sent behind bars for stalking, stabbed the girl in full public view.
The victim, Meenakshi was with her neighbour at the market, returning home with groceries when Prakash allegedly blocked her way and passed a lewd remark.
After Meenakshi protested, Prakash took out a knife and as his mother and brother Eelu held the girl by her hair, the accused stabbed her in the abdomen and shoulder, said witnesses. The neighbour present at the spot with the girl had no time to react.
Prakash and his brother then dragged the girl by her hair and stabbed her a few more times.
“She was lying in a pool of blood and the two brothers were stabbing her. When I tried to push them away, Jai Prakash stabbed me on my shoulder and slit my wrist,” Meenakshi’s mother, who had rushed to the spot after hearing the commotion, told TOI.
Although the neighbours tried to intervene, the youths swung their knives and threatened them before fleeing.
Meenakshi was taken to RML hospital where she died during treatment. She had six to eight stab wounds apart from a dozen abrasions, police said.
Meenakshi’s complaint in 2013 had led to Jai and his mother Shashi Bala being taken into preventive custody. Prakash’s family had since then been pressuring her to take back the complaint.
Family members said Meenakshi had started working in a private company post finishing school and had enrolled in a correspondence course. She had turned 19 only last week and is survived by two elder sisters.
The girl’s body was later handed over to the family after an autopsy at the Maulana Azad Medical college.
(PHOTO COURTESY: HINDUSTAN TIMES)