Day after NGO chief ends life over rape charge,Delhi Police sends team to trace complainant
The complainant had met Anwar when protests were being staged over the Muzaffarnagar riots.
A day after the executive director of a Delhi NGO allegedly committed suicide following charges of rape against him,police sent a team to the complainant’s hometown to record her statement.
On Wednesday,Khurshid Anwar,executive director of the Institute for Social Democracy,allegedly jumped from the fourth floor of an apartment block in Vasant Kunj,south Delhi. The 55-year-old had been named in a rape FIR,registered at the Vasant Kunj (North) police station on the basis of a complaint forwarded to the police by the National Commission for Women.
The complainant works for a different NGO and had met Anwar when protests were being staged over the Muzaffarnagar riots,police said. She alleged that Anwar raped her on September 12 after inviting her home for a party. In her complaint,she alleged that Anwar spiked her drink and assaulted her after she passed out.
Her statement was videotaped in the office of activist Madhu Kishwar. The matter was then referred to the National Commission for Women which forwarded it to the Vasant Kunj (North) police station on December 17.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) B S Jaiswal said: “A team has been sent to the complainant’s hometown. We will need her statement to proceed with the case. We can proceed with the investigations only after we record her statement.” On Anwar’s death,Jaiswal said: “Prima facie,it is a case of suicide.”
Police came across a note Anwar had keyed into his computer. There was a reference to the September incident: “…woh din yaad aata hai… yaad karta hoon… (I remember the day)… Why is (she) doing this? Why is she involving me in rape? I was trying to contact her… but couldn’t contact her.”
Police said the note was probably written a day before Anwar took his own life.
Anwar’s last rites were performed on Thursday. His brother Dr Ali Javed said: “We will not let this pass. We will take appropriate legal action against the people responsible. The woman has not even lodged a complaint herself. She hasn’t even claimed that he raped her. Yet some people have already conducted a trial,harassed Anwar to the point that he took his own life.”
Javed said the family was consulting lawyers on the course of action. Anwar’s wife Meenakshi Sundriyal,who teaches in JNU,declined comment.
On December 17,the day he was booked for rape,Anwar had filed a defamation case against four persons,including the SHO of Vasant Kunj (North).
On Thursday,Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha admitted the plea and directed the petitioner to re-appear on April 1,2014 for pre-summoning evidence. Falak Mohd Meo,the lawyer hired by Anwar’s family,said: “His legal heir will have to an file authority letter to fight the case on his behalf. Our complaint is already in possession of senior police officers,including the DCP (South) and the Delhi Police Commissioner. We had filed it as soon as the allegations surfaced.”
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