Failing to withstand torture and amorous advances, a maid ended her life at the house of her employer in Thakurganj. The local police however was dismissive about the motive and went on to claim that the girl’s family was framing the builder to ‘extort’ cash. As the news went viral on social media, the police was forced to register a case of abetment to suicide against the builder.
As per reports, a minor girl from Sitapur worked at the house of builder / interior deciorator Sajjad Rizvi of Husainabad (Thakurganj) for the last two years. Her father died some time back and her mother married a second time thus leaving her to live on her own. Her uncle Raju lives at a rented house in Thakurganj.
Sajjad had employed the girl through a former maid two years back and she had been working at his house since then. She was given a room to live in. The victimn had earlier complained to her uncle about Rizvi’s indecent behaviour and amorous advances. But since the uncle is poor he advised her to continue working to earn a living.
On Monday night, the local residents came to know of the mysterious death of the girl and subsequently informed the police after which a team reached the scene for investigation.
On being questioned, Sajjad told the police that he along with his wife and children had to gone to attend a function in Sarfarzganj and their maid was alone at the house on Monday night. He claimed that when they returned home, he found the door ajar and the maid was hanging from the ceiling with a dupatta tied around her neck.
Contrary to Rizvi’s claim, the residents said that the girl was hanging from the ceiling but her feet were touching the ground. “There were marks of injuries on her face and other parts,” some residents, who entered the room claimed.
Since Rizvi is an influential person, SHO Thakurganj Raghvan Singh took his side from the outset and seconded his claim even though circumstantial evidences indicated otherwise. The SHO asked the victim’s uncle not to speak to media persons and to carry oiut the last rites instead of fanning the incident.
Not only this, the SHO denied to register a case of abetment to suicide and said that the body had been given to the family for the last rites.
But by Tuesday morning, the news went viral and the police was forced to register a case against Sajjad Rizvi for abetment to suicide (section 306) and thrashing up the victim. The body was then sent for autopsy.
The victim’s family charged that Rizvi had been harassing the girl for a long time. “She had quit the job two months back but Rizvi forced her uncle and other kin to send her back to the house. Even after her death, Rizvi and his cronies tried to give us cash to burry the issue at the mortuary and also handed out threats,” said a kin.
The kin alleged that Rizvi had good rapport with a number of cops at Thakurganj police station and transparent investigation in the case could not be expected.
Meanwhile a lucknow Police spokesman said, “The local police has been asked to probe the case threadbare and if the autopsy report go against Rizvi , he would definitely be arrested.”