Congress MLA’s Cousin Touseef And Aide Rehan Found Guilty In Nikita Tomar Murder Case

Yesterday (24 March), a special court in Faridabad convicted two persons in the Nikita Tomar murder case. The sentence will be pronounced tomorrow by additional sessions judge Sartaj Baswana.

The convicts are Touseef and his aide Rehan. They were found guilty under sections 302 (murder), 366 (kidnapping a woman to compel her into marriage), section 506 (criminal intimidation), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and  34 (common intention) of the IPC. Both have been in jail since their arrest in October last year.

Tomar, a 20-year-old B Com student, was shot point blank by Touseef outside of college in Ballabhgarh on 26 October last year. The whole incident was caught on CCTV camera, which became an important part of the evidence presented by the police in the case.

The shooter Touseef, a cousin of the Congress MLA Aftab Alam, reportedly comes from a family that wields considerable political influence in Nuh. He was a long time stalker of the girl and had even kidnapped her in 2018, after she rejected his proposal to convert to Islam and marry him.

Nikita’s family had registered a case at the time but withdrew it under the pressure of Touseef’s family. They claimed that the family had promised them that Touseef wouldn’t trouble the victim anymore. A mahapanchayat was also held after the incident.

Tomar’s family alleged that Touseef was pressuring Nikita to convert to Islam and marry him. Sixty witnesses were quoted by the chargesheet filed by the police as saying that Touseef killed Nikita for revenge.

Also read: ‘She Died Fighting Forced Conversion’. Nikita Tomar’s Father Criticises Documentary That Says Her Murder Had Nothing To Do With Religion

Another accused in the case, Azaruddin, who allegedly supplied the weapon used in the crime, was acquitted for the lack of evidence. His arrest had reportedly triggered resentment in Nuh and caused a mahapanchayat to be called. The villagers alleged that he was being framed to protect Touseef.

Haryana’s Nuh district, earlier and more commonly known as Mewat, has been in the news for quite sometime for alleged atrocities committed against Hindus by the dominant Muslim community.

An inquiry into the atrocities committed against Dalits by a retired district and sessions judge from Haryana, Pawan Kumar, along with three other members, revealed that Mewat had become a “graveyard” for Dalits, and there was “no difference between Pakistan and Mewat”.

The report listed several incidents of gangrape and murder of Dalit women by the members of the dominant Muslim community “passed off as suicide”, as well as the kidnapping and gangrape of a Dalit girl at the house of a policeman (no action taken), looting Dalits’ marriage pavilions, as well as, forced conversion of women.

Another inquiry by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in May last year revealed three police station areas of Mewat (Punhana, Bichhor and Nagina) as the focal points of atrocities against Hindus.

Also read: A Look At Historical-Ideological Roots Of Love Jihad — Systematic Targeting Of Women Driven By Religious Extremism