55-year-old Geeta Sharma was shot dead by three assailants in the national capital’s Aman Vihar area on Thursday night. The accused were arrested by the police after the crime was captured on a CCTV camera in the neighborhood.
The CCTV footage shows a man standing in front of a house while another stood on the lookout a few feet back. As soon as the door is opened, the man quickly draws a gun and fires at point blank range without warning. Then both the shooter and his accomplice flee the spot.
Three brothers – Aamir, Naved, Salman and a friend of theirs Aman have been arrested from Ghaziabad, which is part of Delhi-NCR, for the murder.
Geeta Sharma’s son Deepak had married a Muslim girl Sitara around 1.5 years back. The girl’s family were not in favor of the marriage, and there used to be frequent arguments between the two on this account. This is what ultimately led to the death of the Hindu woman, who worked as a security guard and was described as a good-natured, helpful woman by neighbors.
Deepak’s brother Dharmendra alleged that Sitara’s family wanted him to convert to Islam, and they had been threatening him for the same. Deepak’s refusal to convert is what led to the Thursday night shooting and murder of Geeta Sharma, Dharmendra stated.
However, unsurprisingly, police have denied there was any pressure to convert. DCP Rohini Guriqbal Singh Sidhu said that Sitara had returned from her parent’s house only a day before and had allegedly got some jewelry and money, due to which her brothers were angry. They had been phoning her to return the valuables.
A local YouTube news channel Arpan News visited Geeta Sharma’s house and interviewed a relative, the murdered woman’s niece. She and her husband were staying together with Geeta Sharma and her two sons (Deepak and Kamal) and their wives.
She said that Deepak and Sitara used to have frequent fights due to tensions caused by the inter-faith union. The later had returned to her paternal home 3-4 times after the marriage. Tired of the constant quarreling, Deepak’s family advised him and Sitara to shift out.
But Sitara left even that separate accommodation and returned to her parents’ home. Then Deepak also returned to stay with his mother and the rest of the family. On Wednesday, Sitara once again returned back to Deepak. Almost immediately, Deepak started receiving death threats from Sitara’s brothers. He and Sitara then moved into a separate rented accommodation the same day.
But that very night, Sitara’s brothers came to the house and opened fired as soon as Geeta opened the door. A bullet hit Geeta in the chest, causing her death.
This becomes the latest in a long list of similar incidents where a genuine inter-faith union (i.e. one where there is no deceitful posing with false identity to lure a girl from the other community, or use of blackmail and force to convert and marry) involving a Hindu man and Muslim woman, has led to the death of the Hindu man or someone from his family.
