A case of rape and abetment to suicide has been filed against the journalist- boyfriend of Delhi-based scribe Nirupama Pathak, an alleged victim of "honour killing", following charges levelled by her
arrested mother.
The FIR was lodged by the police last evening on a direction from a local court and investigations are on, Koderma superintendent of police, G Kranthi Kumar, said today.
Taking cognisance of Subha Pathak's petition, the chief judicial Magistrate N K Agarwal asked Tilaya police to file the FIR under IPC Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 420 (cheating) against Priyabhanshu Ranjan. All the sections are non-bailable.
Asked if Ranjan, also a Delhi-based journalist, would be arrested as all the sections were non-bailable, Kumar told PTI, "We are in the process of investigation now."
The court had also allowed a petition of the police to take Subha in police remand for three days from judicial custody from May 9.
22-year-old Pathak, who was working for a business daily in Delhi, was found dead on April 29 in her parents' house in Tilaya in Koderma district under mysterious circumstances.
Subha alleged that it was a case of suicide. However, the post-mortem report revealed that Pathak died due to asphyxia
as a result of smothering. A 10 to 12 week-old foetus was also
found during the autopsy.
Suspecting the death to be a case of honour killing, the police had arrested Subha.
Nirupama and Ranjan were planning to get married but her parents did not approve of the match because of his lower
caste. They were batchmates from the Indian Institute of Mass
Communication in New Delhi.
