In a tragic incident, a man in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh died by suicide on Friday, a month-and-half after his daughter had killed self allegedly due to constant sexual harassment by a group of youth in the village. The father – Dhirendra Giri – was being allegedly threatened by one of the accused in his daughter’s suicide case, who had recently been released on bail.
Vidisha Police have registered case of abetment to suicide (section 306 of IPC) against six accused mentioned by both father and daughter in their suicide notes. Two of them have been arrested. However, a case is yet to be registered against three persons with links of ruling BJP – whom the Dhirendra Giri had mentioned in his suicide note.
On Saturday, home minister Narottam Mishra told media persons that the in-charge of the Nateran Police station and a head constable had been sent to police lines on prima facie charges of negligence. He said that a team under a deputy inspector general of police (DIG) rank official is being sent out to Vidisha to probe the case. This team will submit a report in three days.
Superintendent of police of Vidisha, Deepak Kumar Shukla told THE WEEK that the main accused Sudeep and another youth had been arrested and a hunt is on for the other four named in the case. He confirmed that Sudeep had been arrested after Raksha Goswami – daughter of Dhirendra Giri – had died by suicide on May 23. Earlier, Raksha had made a complaint of harassment against Sudeep Dhakad and five others. Summons had been issued to these people, though no arrest was made as the sections invoked in the FIR did not warrant immediate arrest. However, after Raksha killed herself, Dhakad was arrested and sent to jail. He was recently released on bail. The SP said that a case of abetment to suicide has been registered against six persons including Dhakad, on basis of complaint filed by the family of the two victims. However, when asked about the three persons with links to BJP mentioned in the suicide note of Dhirendra Giri, the SP said that the content of the note was also included in the probe and further action would be taken on the basis of that.
The family members have, however, alleged that the police did not take the complaint of sexual harassment made by Raksha seriously and did not take any action on the accused, due to which the harassment continued and Raksha died by suicide. Even after the suicide, police did not register a case against all those named by her in the suicide note as they had link with influential people including BJP members, and arrested only one – Sudeep Dhakad. However, Dhakad started threatening the family after being released on bail recently, causing Dhirendra Giri (55), too, to take the extreme step.
The family and others in the village staged a road blockade in Vidisha on Friday evening, demanding justice in the case. The BJP members mentioned in the suicide note by Dhirendra Giri include Rajesh Bamori, Bhagwan Singh Vardha, a former director of district cooperative bank, and Kalyan Singh, a former president of Shamsabad mandi (agriculture produce market).
‘Govt busy in cover-up, acting’
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath launched a sharp attack on the BJP government in the state over the “daily incidents of inhuman atrocities and harassment of citizens coming to the fore in the state”. In a tweet, he said, “a person died by suicide in Vidisha yesterday. Earlier, his daughter had killed herself after being molested. What an irony it is that a daughter died by suicide due to molestation but she does not get justice. Being fed up, his father also has to kill himself.”
Nath also referred to the beating up of minority community youth in Dabra and said that if these incidents also cannot open the eyes of the Shivraj government, what else was required for their souls to wake up. “News of atrocities against Dalits, tribals, minorities, women are constantly coming to the fore in the state. The government is just busy in cover-up, hypocrisy and acting. We have to change this situation and make a happy and prosperous Madhya Pradesh. Where daughters are safe, dalits, tribals, minorities and the entire society are safe.”