Prahlad said that for matters relating to the case and for seeking compensation, the family is largely dependent on a local activist who is the most literate in their community. The activist requested this correspondent not to identify him by name. He shared that the family has recently got some financial help under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The activist told Swarajya that he is not satisfied either with the chargesheet or with the administration, which he says has failed to deliver on their promises.

"The chargesheet does not figure Rukhsar at all. Her statement is crucial but has not been recorded. The police have completely given her a miss. They have instead gone by the accused's statements that they killed Sanjay in revenge for abandoning their daughter. This is a blatant lie. It was they who separated the couple," he said.

The chargesheet (which Swarajya has accessed) has named four accused – Fajruddin, Saleem, Saleem’s uncle Ali Mohammad and Saleem’s neighbour Sumit for abetting the crime.

The activist said that the sub-divisional magistrate who visited the family in August promised a government job for a family member but has not delivered on it. He rued that neither the state government nor the local MLA has helped the family monetarily.

The activist has also been writing to the administration “to remind them of their promise” of an alternate accommodation for Manju. "She is the complainant in the case and is just not safe here," he said.

He said that after the incident, locals arranged for Manju to live in a local temple as she had been finding it difficult to pay the rent for her room. Manju lived in the temple for about six months but had to vacate it two weeks ago. She has since rented another room but fears for her safety.

She told this correspondent that at times, she has heard men walking past her house around midnight whispering that it's a matter of time when the accused would get bail. She said that some days ago, she got a call from a stranger who refused to reveal his identity but asked her to come to the police station for "compromise". Manju shared the number with this correspondent.

"Earlier, Fajru's mother has come to me asking for compromise. But I can’t agree to that. I want her son to meet the same fate as my son," said Manju.

In August, the neighbours had told this correspondent that though Rukhsar’s family never liked Sanjay to begin with, they would have accepted him had he converted to their religion - a condition that Sanjay’s maternal uncles did not agree to. A neighbour named Sunita had told this correspondent that when Rukhsar’s family got the couple separated, her mother Madina would say in her community gatherings that she had saved her daughter from “being cremated”, that is, dying a Hindu.

Sunita had told Swarajya [in a recorded statement], "When they have their community gatherings, we also sometimes sit and listen in the conversations. Madina often said that she has managed to save her daughter from being cremated. You know, they get buried and we get cremated in shamshan grounds.”

Six months on, a distraught Manju says she wished Madina or Fajurddin had talked to her directly. “I would have forced my son to do it [convert to Islam],” she says.

“At least his life could have been saved.”

(Madhur Sharma assisted in the reporting)