Protest erupts in Kheri village over suicide of minor girl; prime accused arrested: Police

The protest subsided after additional police forces were called in to disperse the demonstrators.

Protesters alleged that the girl, who belonged to the Hindu community, ended her life after the accused, hailing from a minority community, made explicit video clips of her public.

According to police, the victim’s family alleged that the accused had blackmailed the girl using the objectionable video and forced her into a sexual relationship.

Kheri Additional Superintendent of Police Naipal Singh said, “We have arrested the prime accused and efforts are on to nab the others.”

Kheri Circle Officer Aditya Kumar Gautam said as of now, no FIR has been filed in connection with the protest.

“The family has not yet shared the video they claim the accused made public. They have assured us that they possess the video, and we will obtain it through the appropriate legal process,” a police officer said.

In her complaint to the police, the victim’s mother stated that her elder daughter and she had gone out for some work on November 2 and returned in the evening to find the door of their house opened and her younger daughter hanging from a ceiling fan.

Police lowered the body and sent it for the postmortem examination, which was conducted by a panel of doctors.

The victim’s mother further alleged that the accused had posted her daughter’s explicit video on social media. Upon learning about the video on November 1, she and the victim confronted the accused and his family at their residence, but they were humiliated, verbally abused, and physically assaulted by the accused’s family, the mother alleged.

According to police, the complainant claimed that the accused’s father suggested her “to avoid social embarrassment, she should allow her daughter to marry his son after converting to Islam”. The mother said that they initially refrained from reporting the matter to the police out of fear of damaging their social reputation.

A case has been registered against four individuals, including the arrested prime accused, his two brothers, and their father on several charges including rape, criminal intimidation, and abetment of suicide, as well as under the Prevention of Children Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, and the Information Technology Act, the officer added.