Inside a well-lit, hand-painted room on the first floor of a house in Kanpur, scores of golden trophies, medals, badges and certificates stand in silent assemblies, like woeful attendees at a funeral. They belong to Sneha Chaurasiya, who was shot to death about 400 km away from home, inside the guarded premises of the prestigious Shiv Nadar University in Greater Noida, where she had been a student for the past three years.
바카라Sneha was a very bright and a special girl,바카라 says a broken-hearted Raj Prakash Chaurasiya, Sneha바카라s father. As if to substantiate his claims, he points to the glittering pile of medals, neatly nestled in a Tupperware box and the trophies and sashes with her name on them. 바카라Sneha was an award-winning state-level athlete and had won several prestigious tournaments and competitions. She had won awards for singing, dancing and was the editor of her school magazine. She was also her class topper,바카라 he reiterates.
On May 18, when the phone rang at around 2.30 pm, the Chaurasiya family in Kanpur had no clue of what was to come. 바카라The college authorities told us that our daughter had met with a serious accident and that we needed to come,바카라 Raj Prakash recalls. When they reached the college about seven hours later, they were told that her daughter was shot dead by her classmate, Anuj. 바카라He killed her at point blank range with an unlicensed country-made pistol,바카라 he rasps, wincing. It was the same gun Anuj used to kill himself later.
Before he died by suicide, Anuj sent a 22-minute video to a university group in which he confessed to shooting her after a fallout between the two. They were purportedly in a relationship for two years. When Sneha decided to break up, Anuj said he couldn바카라t handle it. Some 400 km away in Amroha, Lokesh Singh, Anuj바카라s farmer father remains at a loss for words and requests to be left alone from the limelight. He doesn바카라t know why his son did what he did and wants his family to not be blamed for it. He also believes that if the college had taken action against the son on time and sent him home, maybe the boy and girl would have lived.
But that is what the college did not do. In an email dated March 14, addressed to college authorities바카라Tulika Chandra and Anshu Narendra Paliwal on their official college IDs바카라Sneha outlined several 바카라violent incidents바카라 that she had been facing in the past few months. Apparently, Anuj was not ready to move on. This is what she wrote: 바카라It has been the 4th time now that he has shown violence upon me in a span of two months. There are scars on my body which are proof of the high level of violence. Also once, he had held my throat so hard that it choked me into an unconscious state. I am suffering from seriously bad mental health. I have started getting panic attacks due to this. Today he has given me an open death threat and said that he will call up my parents and tell them all about our relationship.바카라
Initially, Sneha did not want to file a formal complaint as she did not want the authorities to involve her parents. At that time, the parents were unaware of Sneha바카라s relationship. However, she sought the help of the college to feel 바카라safe and happy바카라 in the campus again. 바카라We are in the same working and academic space. I want to get out of this without involving my parents,바카라 Sneha wrote.
She also stated that she was writing the email without discussing the matter with her parents. Sneha바카라s parents allege that the college took no action on Sneha바카라s complaint and it is this negligence on the college바카라s part that led to the loss of two lives. The family also alleges that the college tried to hide its role and destroyed evidence that could implicate them. 바카라We found the emails on social media. When the news went viral, they responded by dismissing the issue as a lover바카라s spat, but did not deny the emails,바카라 he states. It was only after the emails that the police filed the an FIR on May 25, they claim, in which they have allegedly named Shiv Nadar University.
In response to the allegations of inaction against Sneha바카라s complaints of violence, the university바카라s executive director for financial operations (EDFO) had told a national newspaper that 바카라such fights are common among friends, and we provided counselling to them바카라. Outlook tried to connect with Shiv Nadar University for further clarifications but got no response till the time of publishing.
바카라Despite Sneha stating clearly that her life was in danger, the college did nothing. They are claiming to the media that they did counselling. This is wish-wash. This boy was clearly disturbed and mere counselling was not enough,바카라 Sneha바카라s uncle Anil Chaurasiya states. No one from Shiv Nadar University has reached out to the family, and they have blocked the email through which Sneha wrote to them, he adds.
In the days following the murder-suicide, the police arrested three persons in connection with the crime. 바카라One is an ambulance driver who befriended him. The others include the ambulance driver바카라s employer and his brother. These were the people who supplied Anuj with the weapon,바카라 confirms Deputy Commissioner of Police, Greater Noida, Saad Miya Khan. When asked about how a student like Anuj could procure a gun so easily for just a small amount of cash and smuggle it inside college바카라where he kept it for 30 days before the incident바카라he avers, 바카라UP Police is doing a lot to control the unlicensed gun trade and gun violence in the state, especially in Greater Noida area where it바카라s a challenge. But we are also planning to conduct safety workshops with students and universities and get educational institutions to implement strict baggage checking systems at entry and exit points,바카라 he adds.
However, Delhi Commission for Women Chief Swati Maliwal says: 바카라We have strong laws against gender violence, but until there is swiftness of punishment for crimes, people are not going to be scared. Six rape cases are reported every day in the capital and these are just cases that are being reported, it바카라s just the tip of the iceberg. Girls are facing all kinds of abuse and they are unable to even report them, because when they do, nothing happens,바카라 she states.
She adds that in cases like the Shiv Nadar shooting, the inherent reluctance for educational institutions to act on protecting their women students adds to the plight of victims. In most cases, institutions show complete apathy towards the safety concerns of students, and when they do, it바카라s in the form of increasing restrictions for women students. 바카라What about schooling the boys?바카라 asks Maliwal. There is also a complete lack of empathy or even respect for a woman alleging harassment or violence by a man, especially if it바카라s someone they have been known to associate with in any way.
In Kanpur, Sneha바카라s family accuses the college of trying to build a false narrative around Sneha바카라s character to skirt around their failure to address a safety concern raised by a student. 바카라They are trying to brush it off as an affair gone wrong. But our daughter was so much more than that. And as soon as they became aware of the ongoing violence (as we can see in the emails), and did nothing, they became party to the crime,바카라 says Sneha바카라s father, who is an advocate.
On June 10, Sneha would have turned 21. 바카라She was our eldest daughter. And she was so talented. She won so many awards for the state, her school and college. Her loss is not just a loss to us, but to the whole country,바카라 says Sneha바카라s elderly grandmother. She sits beside Sneha바카라s mother who has been rendered mute since the incident, her swollen eyes downcast, and she trails off, speaking of how her granddaughter always greeted her first before everyone else, even her mother, every time she came home. The family has little hope with the police investigation. They are powerful people, the Chaurasiyas claim, referring to the university. But their grit is firm. 바카라We will fight till the end,바카라 Raj Prakash affirms.
Rakhi Bose in Kanpur
(This appeared in the print as 'Broken Dreams')
