STATE TIMES NEWS
RAJOURI: Five Panchayat members were booked and two of them arrested for alleged abatement of suicide of a 25 -year-old youth who was asked to drink urine of a girl, whose family accused that he raped her, in Rajouri District.
“Police have registered a case of abatement of suicide (section 306 of the RPC) at the police station in Budhal against five persons (of the Panchayat),” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, Yougal Manhas said.
Those who have been booked have been identified as Molvi Abdul Latief, his brothers Mohd Rafiq and Mohd Bashir, Abdul Rashid and Molvi Ghulam Rasool, he said, adding Rashid and Bashir have been arrested and search is on to nab others.
Fazal Hussain of Targain hamlet in Budhal allegedly committed suicide on Saturday last following a directive by the Panchayat that he should drink the urine of the girl, whose family accused him of raping her.
The incident came to light after an audio message of the youth went viral on social media, in which he accused the Panchayat of “humiliation” by directing him to drink the urine of the girl. Hussain’s body was recovered by the Police from Samarsar Alpine lake last Sunday.
“The deceased in an audio clip, recorded just before his suicide, has alleged that he was being pressurised by a village Panchayat to drink the urine of a girl, whose parents and relatives had alleged that he sexually harassed her,” Manhas said. During investigation, it was found that a Panchayat was called in at the house of Latief in Dandote in Budhal, where the other accused passed a diktat against the deceased, he added. “Despite pleading innocence, the Panchayat didn’t bother to pass an inhuman directive that the deceased shall be pardoned only if he drinks the urine of the girl,” the SSP said.
“Feeling disappointed and depressed, the deceased took the extreme step to end his life, and committed suicide by jumping into the Alpine lake, Samarsar”, he said. Hussain, a post-graduate and resident of remote Targain village of Budhal, had gone missing last Saturday.