A large number of Muslim men and women, today, Monday, April 22, staged a demonstration denouncing the accused Fayaz Khondunaik, in the murder of college student Neha Hiremath, and publicly stood by the victim's family.

A report by PTI said that shops owned by Muslims were shut for half a day in solidarity with the family of Hiremath and to condemn the dastardly act that shook the twin city of Hubballi-Dharwad.

The shopkeepers put out a poster saying, "Justice for Neha Hiremath".

Moreover, Muslim students, under the banner of the Dharwad unit of Anjuman-e-Islam, took out a march in the city holding banners and placards which read: "One murder of a human is equal to the murder of humanity" and "Girl students should be respected and protected".

As the BJP has also been staging demonstrations in the city as part of its statewide protest against the Neha murder case, elaborate security arrangements were made with the deployment of reserved police forces.

Neha Hiremath, 23-year-old daughter of Congress Councillor of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Niranjan Hiremath, was stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College by Fayaz Khondunaik on Thursday, April 18.

Neha was a first-year Master of Computer Application (MCA) student and Fayaz was earlier her classmate.

The murder case, which sparked widespread outrage, has now turned into a political slugfest between the ruling party Congress and opposition BJP, PTI added.

While the ruling party has tried to project it as an incident with a personal angle, the saffron party has labelled it a "love jihad" case and claimed it stands testimony to the alleged deterioration of law and order in the state.