Youths post on social media ‘justifying’ Hubballi murder case, arrested

Karnataka police have arrested two youths who allegedly “justified” the murder of Neha Hiremath (24) on social media with posts alleging that she was in a relationship with the accused, Fayaz Khondunaik.
Hiremath was stabbed to death on a college campus in Hubballi on Thursday, a video of which went viral on social media and sparked mass public outrage.
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The identities of the two youths arrested could not be ascertained. However, they are both natives of Dharwad. The duo were arrested on Saturday over a complaint lodged by pro-Hindu activists.
The complaint stated that the youths allegedly uploaded pictures of the deceased girl, Neha along with Fayaz, the accused, with a caption, “Neha Fayaz true love, justice for love”, news agency PTI reported.
The youths were arrested by police shortly thereafter.
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Karnataka Industries Minister MB Patil on Saturday condemned the murder of Neha Hiremath, Congress corporator Niranjan Hiremath’s daughter, in Hubballi and declared that the accused deserves capital punishment.
Terming the stabbing a “heinous act”, he said, “The miscreants in such cases should be harshly punished without delay. Legal proceedings of such cases should be carried out in fast-track courts to avoid delay. The awarding of capital punishment will help to avoid the recurrence of such incidents. The heinous act of a girl student’s murder is highly condemnable and cannot be justified at all.”
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“The state government will work for the punishment of the guilty in the incident, but the central government and state governments should work in coordination to frame laws allowing capital punishment for the guilty in such heinous crimes,” he added.
(With agency inputs)