Priyanshu Jain, a 23-year-old MBA student at MICA, had been fatally stabbed by a Gujarat police constable in Ahmedabad
MEERUT
: In the soft, flickering glow of candlelight, hundreds gathered at Commissionary Crossing Park on Thursday evening. They carried with them not just grief but a growing sense of outrage—an undercurrent of determination to demand
justice
for a promising life cruelly extinguished. The victim,
Priyanshu Jain
, a 23-year-old
MBA student
at
MICA
, had been fatally stabbed by a
Gujarat police
constable in Ahmedabad during what should have been an ordinary Sunday evening.
The contours of Priyanshu’s life—cut short in a moment of senseless violence—were etched in quiet conversations at the vigil. A second-year student at his dream institute, MICA, Priyanshu had been selected for
IIM Sirmour
but followed his heart to the Ahmedabad campus. His father, Pankaj Jain, a chartered accountant, reflected on the cruel ironies of fate. "He wouldn’t have been in Ahmedabad if he’d gone to IIM Sirmour," he said. “I keep thinking how different his fate could have been.”
Priyanshu’s passions were as vibrant as his ambitions. At school, he captained the football team, carrying the same fervour off the pitch into his support for Barcelona. Lionel Messi was his hero, and rising star Lamine Yamal had captured his imagination. “He would get annoyed if I forgot their names,” Pankaj said with a bittersweet smile.
The tragedy struck on a night cloaked in the mundane. Priyanshu had gone to a tailor to prepare for upcoming placement interviews. On his way home, he stopped by a bakery, a small indulgence that would mark his last moments.
Grief in Meerut is not quiet; it rumbles through streets and reverberates in voices both tender and thunderous. “How can someone entrusted with protecting others commit such an act?” asked Amit Pathak, a radiologist who attended the vigil. There were calls for accountability at the highest level. Ajay Anthony, a teacher from St. Mary’s Academy where Priyanshu had studied, addressed the crowd: “We demand a transparent and swift inquiry. The prime minister must intervene.”
The grief-stricken have taken to digital avenues as well. The #JusticeForPriyanshuJain campaign is gaining momentum online, fuelled by students and youth mobilising for a cause that feels personal. “This has to become a movement. We need to keep the pressure on,” said Arjun Tandon, Priyanshu’s close friend.
In the quiet corners of the Jain household, the pain cuts deeper. Priyanshu’s mother, Reenu Jain, cannot look away from the garlanded photograph of her son. “Mere bete ki tasveer par haar chadh gaya,” she said through tears. “I cannot stop thinking about the pain he must have felt when the knife was thrust into him.” For cyber security engineer Geetika, his sister 7 years elder to her, the pain is unbearable. "I cradled her in my arms. It seems I've lost a child in my brother", she says.
For his childhood friend, Sanskaar Jain, the loss is both profound and surreal. “For 13 years, I’ve called him whenever something happened in my life. Now, I’ve lost a part of myself,” he said. “I won’t rest until my brother gets justice.”
Justice, however, feels precariously out of reach. The accused constable reportedly had a prior criminal incident on record yet had been reinstated. “I hope we get justice,” Pankaj said, his voice heavy with doubt. “But are we going to get it?” The family has called for the case to be expedited in a fast-track court.
Meerut, cloaked in Diwali lights until last week, now flickers with the flames of vigils. As the streets fill with voices demanding accountability, the town refuses to let Priyanshu’s story fade into another statistic. The candles, they say, are not just for mourning—they are for hope, for change, and for justice that must not be denied.
English (US) ·