SFI Demands Urgent Probe into Brutal Murder of SFI Worker Ziya Guleria in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla: The SFI Central Committee has demanded an immediate investigation into the brutal killing of Ziya Guleria, an SFI activist and first-year BBA student, who was murdered on her way to college in Himachal Pradesh.

The incident occurred at Gopalpur town in Mandi district, where Ziya was walking to a bus stop when an attacker arriving on a motorcycle stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and hands with a knife, killing her on the spot. Two persons had come on the motorcycle; one, a 36-year-old man, was apprehended by local residents and handed over to the police, while the second accused remains at large.

Reports indicate that the attacker was under the influence of drugs and other intoxicants at the time of the crime. The SFI said the incident exposed the failure of the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, which had promised to ensure the safety of women in the state. The organisation stressed that the alarming rise in drug use among youth cannot be treated as an isolated phenomenon, and pointed to National Crime Records Bureau data showing a deeply troubling increase in crimes against women in India over the past decade.

The SFI also condemned what it described as the pernicious influence of Manuvaadi ideology, which it said continues to push women further away from education, employment, and social progress. The organisation held both the BJP-led central government and state governments — whether Congress or BJP — responsible for failing to protect women and for allowing a culture of impunity to persist.

The SFI demanded a thorough investigation and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators, called for urgent measures to ensure the safety of girls across the country, and pressed for coordinated action to make campuses and public spaces peaceful, healthy, and safe for women.