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Assam’s transgender judge gets bail in suicide abetment case
Swati Bidhan Baruah was arrested on March 1 for alleged abetment to suicide following the mysterious death of a youth, who was arrested last year for allegedly raping her
Swati Bidhan Baruah, a transgender judge and an LGBTQ+ activist in Assam who was arrested earlier this month for abetment of a 20-year-old boy’s suicide, has been granted bail by a district court in Guwahati.
She was arrested on March 1 for alleged abetment to suicide following the mysterious death of a youth, who was arrested last year for allegedly raping her.
The 20-year-old youth, identified as Mansur Alam, was found hanging in his house at Guwahati’s Pandu area on March 1 morning and later his family members alleged that he took this step due to the mental torture by Barua.
The family members lodged a complaint at Guwahati’s Jalukbari Police Station on the same day and police arrested her after registering a case, officials said.
The district magistrate’s court on Friday (March 29) granted her bail as the investigating police officer failed to produce the case diary after repeated directions from the court. The court fixed the bail for ₹30,000 and a surety.
However, neither Baruah nor the family members of Mansur were available for comments after the bail was granted. According to people familiar with the matter, Baruah has submitted an application for her release after the court’s order and she’ll be released on Saturday.
According to Mansur’s family members, he used to work at Swati’s official residence as a contractual worker and they developed an intimate relationship during that time. However, on March 29, last year, Swati had filed a complaint against Mansur for allegedly raping her.
Mansur was arrested after that and was released on bail later, but, the family claimed, Swati kept putting pressure on him. “He was afraid of her threats because she holds a strong judicial position. Mansur requested her several times to stop this. He could not handle this pressure and finally he died by suicide. This is not a suicide but a murder,” a family member said on March 1.
