Victim’s boyfriend arrested after teenage girl brutally stabbed to death on Delhi street

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing a teenage girl multiple times and bludgeoning her to death in full public view in a case that has shocked the public in India.

The incident occurred in the country’s capital New Delhi on Sunday and was recorded on CCTV. The footage showed a man stabbing the girl multiple times as locals passed by, with no one intervening.

The attacker stabbed the victim at least 16 times before smashing her with a concrete block in an assault that lasted for nearly 90 seconds.

The murder took place in north Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy area where the teen was planning to attend her friend’s son’s birthday.

Police have identified the suspect they arrested as Sahil Khan, and say he was the victim’s boyfriend.

“They were in a relationship, but yesterday they had a quarrel,” a senior police official told news channel NDTV on Sunday.

Residents alerted the police to the attack, who took the girl to hospital. She was declared dead on arrival.

Police said they arrested the suspect from a relative’s home in Bulandshahr city in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, reported the Hindustan Times.

“As soon as the police received the information about the woman’s death, Sahil’s parents were detained on Sunday night. We found that Sahil had been calling them, and on the basis of technical surveillance, a dedicated police team rushed for the identified location and nabbed Sahil near Bulandshahr,” police special commissioner Dependra Pathak told the outlet.

“To ensure his arrest, his father was also taken with the police team,” he said.

“He used to work as a mechanic for AC and refrigerators. Further investigation is underway... we will make sure the maximum punishment is given to the accused,” deputy commissioner of police Suman Nalwa told news agency ANI on Monday.

The police have booked a murder case under the relevant section of India’s criminal code.

“My daughter was stabbed many times... her head was also bludgeoned into pieces. We demand stringent punishment for the accused,” said the girl’s father.

The incident has drawn sharp reactions from the political fraternity, including Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who criticised the capital’s lieutenant governor over the law and order situation.

While Delhi has an elected local government, police and law and order matters are administered on a federal level, with the lieutenant governor being the Narendra Modi government’s representative for the capital.

“A minor girl was brutally murdered in Delhi. This is very sad and unfortunate. The criminals have become fearless, there is no fear of the police. LG sir, law and order is your responsibility, do something,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

Special commissioner Pathak said the police will “leave no stone unturned to collect all evidence which would enable us to secure strictest possible punishment including death penalty for the accused”.

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal told news channel News18 that several people saw the ghastly attack unfold, but did nothing because they “have started feeling that nothing will happen, nothing will change”.

“Delhi has become extremely unsafe for women and girls. I appeal to the central government to call a high-level meeting with the union home minister and the lieutenant governor of Delhi,” Ms Maliwal said.

The BJP labelled the incident as a case of “love jihad” – a right-wing, Islamophobic conspiracy theory perpetuated without evidence that claims Muslim fundamentalists convert Hindu and Christian women to Islam through trickery, expressions of false love and even forced marriage.

“A few months ago, the Aftab-Shraddha case had shocked Delhi, now this case once again warns Delhiites to be aware of love jihad,” Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva told The Hindu newspaper in an apparent reference to the murder of a 27-year-old woman by her partner, Aftab Poonawala last year, in which the accused chopped her body to more than 30 pieces.

“It is regrettable that the Chief Minister of Delhi is trying to portray the brutal killing of a Hindu girl by Muslim youth as a law and order issue, whereas it is a case of love jihad,” he said, without any evidence to prove his claims.