A rape survivor died by suicide after the accused posted the screenshots of a video of the heinous act on WhatsApp in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh, the deceased girl’s brother-in-law said on Saturday.
The 20-year-old girl from Kanchpura village of the district consumed poison on Thursday night after her husband informed her that her photos were going viral in the village.
She was rushed to the district hospital where she died on Friday while undergoing treatment.
The husband informed his elder brother about the reason behind her death.
Talking to HT over the phone, the brother-in-law said, “My brother and the woman got married last year. My brother works as an attendant at a petrol pump. On Thursday, a villager informed him that obscene photos of his wife are going viral on social media.”
“My brother asked his wife about the photos, she told him that a labourer named Bhola, who was working at an under-construction house in the neighbourhood, raped her a few weeks ago. He threatened her with dire consequences. She didn’t inform anyone due to social stigma,” he said.
The brother-in-law said on Tuesday, the labourer came to her house again with two others and forced her for sexual favours. The woman scolded them and asked them to leave her house. The labourer showed her a video of the act, which was shot by him secretly and threatened her of posting it on social media. The woman didn’t pay attention to his threat and ran outside her house. The labourer fled the spot but later took circulated the screenshots of the video through WhatsApp.
{{/usCountry}}The brother-in-law said on Tuesday, the labourer came to her house again with two others and forced her for sexual favours. The woman scolded them and asked them to leave her house. The labourer showed her a video of the act, which was shot by him secretly and threatened her of posting it on social media. The woman didn’t pay attention to his threat and ran outside her house. The labourer fled the spot but later took circulated the screenshots of the video through WhatsApp.
{{/usCountry}}The brother-in-law added that after the post mortem, police didn’t come to register the statement to know the reason behind her death. “If the police don’t come, we will file a complaint against Bhola,” said the brother-in-law.
Bagchini police station in-charge Praveen Tripathi said, “We came to know about the suicide but didn’t receive any information of rape and circulation of photos. The family is in trauma therefore we have not registered their statements yet.”
Morena superintendent of police, Lalit Shakyawar, said, “We came to know that labourer Bhola used to visit her. Now, family members claimed that the woman was raped by the labourer. Police are investigating the claims of the family members. Further sections of the Indian Penal Code will be added after investigation”.
(With inputs from Shiv Pratap Singh from Morena)