Lakhimpur Kheri, 5 Nov: Police reported on Sunday that a 17-year-old girl committed suicide after an undesirable video of her recorded by a member of another community went viral on social media, and that the Station House Officer (SHO) has been suspended.
“The victim’s family members claimed that the accused and his relatives were pressuring the youngster to conduct ‘nikaah’ (marriage) with the accused. In this context, a case has been filed under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act,” police said.
The deceased’s sister said the accused had been tormenting and blackmailing the victim for a long period, forcing her sister to take severe measures. When the victim’s body arrived in her village following the post-mortem examination on Saturday, residents staged a protest, blocking the road and damaged the accused’s family’s property.
Local police sought to discourage the protesters from causing damage to the properties. Kheri District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh and SP Ganesh Prasad Saha hurried to the scene and spoke with the protesting locals and unhappy family members. They convinced the protestors to end the agitation, and the victim’s relatives performed the final rites on Saturday.
On Saturday evening, IG Lucknow range Tarun Gaba visited the scene and met with the victim’s relatives, assuring them of “effective and prompt action” in the matter. On November 3, the victim’s body was discovered hanging in her home after her mother and sister had gone outdoors.
Kheri SP Ganesh Prasad Saha informed reporters that DSP (Pallia) Aditya Kumar Gautam has been directed to investigate the matter and produce a charge-sheet as soon as possible to guarantee the accused’s punishment. Siyaram Verma, the SHO of Sampurn Nagar police station, was suspended on Saturday evening.
According to Saha, the primary culprit (a 20-year-old man) in the case has been apprehended, and investigations will be conducted from all perspectives in accordance with the charges in the FIR. On Saturday, the main culprit was apprehended.
Police have charged four people – the main accused, his two brothers, and his father – with violating sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 306 (abetment of suicide), 376 (rape), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, as well as the POCSO Act, the IT Act, and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act.
Meanwhile, the accused’s business, which was reportedly erected on PWD land, was razed on Sunday, according to a UP Police statement.
