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Journalism of Courage
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Information Commissioner CIC and Allahabad High Court judge M A Khan reportedly committed suicide by jumping off his house on the fourth floor of Awadh Apartment in Gomti Nagar police station area early on Thursday.
Police said Khan jumped off the building while his family members were asleep. According to family members,Khan,69,had been under treatment for depression for more than one year.
His wife Shams Jahan Begum said she was informed by their neighbours about Khan having jumped off the building. Begum said she had last seen Khan in his bed around 3 am when she had woken up.
She said Khan had consumed sleeping pills in the night as per the medication given for his treatment. Begum said Khans depression had become intense recently and the family members used to keep him under constant watch lest he hurts himself. He was scheduled to go to Bangalore for treatment on Thursday,she said.
Begum added that Khan could also have fainted while standing on the balcony and fallen off.
Additional Superintendent of Police Trans-Gomti Ram Bahadur Yadav said that it was not clear whether Khan jumped off the building or he fell down after fainting while standing on the balcony.
Begum said Khan had become more depressed after the death of their son Kishwar in October last year because of liver ailments. Khan is survived by his wife and three children Anwar,Munawwar and Heena.
Khans body was taken to their native place in Saharanpur in the evening for his last rites.
Khan,a law graduate,was elevated as permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court in 1999. He retired from the high court in November 2005. Later,he was appointed CIC by then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
