Meer Faisal & Shazeen Khan
The killing of a young man in a Holi-eve conflict in Uttam Nagar, Delhi, sparked protests that were followed by heavy police deployment and a subsequent demolition carried out by civic authorities. While the police investigation has led to multiple arrests, members of the accused family claim they have been falsely implicated and allege bias in the investigation.
In a telephonic interview with The Observer Post, Shahin Rangrez Chouhan, whose family members are among those accused in the murder of 23-year-old Tarun, denied the allegations and presented a different version of events.
Her account presents a sharply different version of the Holi-eve clash, one in which she claims her family members were first attacked by a large group armed with sticks and iron rods and later blamed for Tarun’s death.
“They are saying that we killed him, but that is absolutely not the case. We didn’t have a single weapon to kill him with. We didn’t have any weapons at all,” Shahin said.
Clash on Holi Evening
According to Shahin, the confrontation began with what initially appeared to be a minor altercation involving water balloons on the evening of Holi.
“This whole incident happened on the day of Holi, March 4, around 7:30 pm,” she said. “My aunt had stepped out to arrange our sehri meals. While she was passing through the lane, someone threw water on her, but she ignored it. However, on her way back home, the same boy—identified as Prince, around 20 years old—threw a balloon filled with dirty water at her and started arguing with her.”
Shahin alleged that the situation quickly escalated when four young men present at the spot, who appeared to be intoxicated according to her account, began inappropriately touching her aunt.
This story was originally published in theobserverpost.com. Read the full story here.