Begum Bazaar, a trading market in the heart of Hyderabad, which usually bustles with business reverberated with slogans on Saturday morning. Shops were shut after 22-year-old Neeraj Panwar was brutally hacked to death by five persons on Friday night. Protests and rallies were held demanding justice for Neeraj’s family.
Neeraj’s wife Sanjana (21) said he was attacked as her family members were against their love marriage. The young widow who was grieving demanded that the attackers be hanged. The young couple got married in April last year. They have a two-month-old son.
Business persons from the locality, members of the Hyderabad Kirana Merchants Association, walked from Mitti ka Sher, Feelkhana, and gathered in huge numbers at Shahinayathgunj police station. Merchants in the locality decided on Friday night that they would shut shops on Saturday, and will hold a protest.
Holding photos of Neeraj and placards demanding hanging of the attackers, they stayed put on the arterial road passing by the police station on Saturday. Traffic on both sides came to a standstill. Curious onlookers stood on the bylines.
Ms. Sanjana, and other family members too reached the gathering. Continuing to cast doubt on her family members, especially brothers, she demanded harshest punishment and death to the attackers. After sitting at police station’s gate for some time, she was taken inside the premises by Neeraj’s family members.
A large number of police personnel were deployed on the main road and inside the police station. The gathering dispersed after around an hour.
The police were present in large numbers in the busy Begum Bazaar right from Friday night. Patrolling vehicles ran through the main road and bylanes till Saturday evening. Youngsters passing through these routes were under the gaze of the police personnel.
