E-Paper
Kerala man accused of mistreating woman on bus dies by suicide
A man accused of misconduct in a viral video was found dead, presumed suicide. Relatives claim the woman's video aimed for social media attention.
A man, against whom a video was posted by a woman accusing him of inappropriately touching her in a bus, was found dead at his home in Kozhikode district, police said.
The man is presumed to have died by suicide at his home in Govindhapuram, officials said.
“His parents knocked on his bedroom door around 7am but received no response. Upon entering the room, they found him dead,” an officer said.
A relative of the deceased accused the woman of deliberately posting the video of alleged misbehaviour on social platforms to get wider social media reach.
“It is evident from the video that she is creating it with an aim of getting a wide social media reach. When I heard about the video, I told him (deceased) not to panic. I told him that we can meet a lawyer and move legally. The next day, I heard that he had taken his own life,” the relative said.
“If the woman faced such an incident, she could have raised it inside the bus or even informed the police,” he added.
The woman’s video was viewed more than 2million times, police said.
In the video, the woman is heard saying that she began shooting after she saw the man inappropriately touching another woman in front of him. She also claims that she posted the video in order to expose “people like him” .
Meanwhile, Rahul Easwar, an activist who has demanded a men’s commission to deal with fake cases against them, has sent a complaint to the CM’s office and the DGP demanding that a case of abetment to suicide be filed against the woman.
“This is a fake complaint and a fake video. Since the man has died by suicide, I have lodged a complaint demanding that the woman be charged with abetment to suicide,” he said in a Facebook post.
