Kriti Agrawal
Seven people, four women, were arrested on charges of abetting the suicide of a 23–year-old woman.
The Tripura High Court took suo motu cognizance of media reports of a 23-year-old woman committing suicide after being tortured and paraded naked over an alleged extramarital affair.
The incident occurred on Tuesday in the Sabroom village of Betaga in South Tripura.
Dr Kulwant Singh of SP (South Tripura), stated that the police had already gathered evidence and documented the statements of some witnesses, upon which the arrests were made.
According to news, the woman was forced to commit suicide after an obscene video of her alleged extramarital affair was shown on a large screen during an arbitration hearing at a local market on Sunday.
Locals allegedly gathered in front of her house, garlanded her with shoes, trimmed her hair, and paraded her naked through the village after tying her with a rope after seeing the video.
After returning home, she ingested poison and died on the spot.
The woman’s family filed a complaint against her neighbors, accusing them of pressuring her to commit suicide.
A division bench of Chief Justice AA Kureshi and Justice S Talapatra instituted Suo motu proceedings into the incident and issued notices to the State Chief Secretary, DGP, SP (South Tripura), and SDPO (Sabroom) requesting a full report on the incident.
The Court described the incident as the “Grossest possible violation of human rights” and directed the respondents to file their responses within a day.
The Court stated that it did not believe the news story and would not accept it until it was fully checked.
However, even if just a fraction of what is published is accurate, it will shock every citizen’s conscience, it said.
The Court has directed the authorities to send the video footage listed in the news stories, as well as statements from the deceased’s family members.
It stated that “If any photographs or video evidence of the alleged incident are visible, the same shall be submitted before the Court.”