A woman influencer in Kerala, who had accused a man of harassing her in a bus, was arrested after the man died by suicide.
On January 16, Friday, 35-year-old Shimjitha Musthafa was travelling in a bus in the Payyannur area. Musthafa, who is an influencer recorded a man named Deepak U, stating that he touched her inappropriately, amounting to sexual harassment.
She posted the video on her social media account, which quickly went viral and garnered over 20 lakh views.
In her video, she alleged, "Yesterday, I shared a video from a public bus where a man deliberately touched me without my consent. This was not an accident or a misunderstanding. It was a clear violation of my sexual boundaries".
She added, "I began recording after noticing a woman in front of me was uncomfortable. Despite knowing he was being recorded, the man still went ahead and touched me. This shows a deliberate act, a lack of empathy and the belief that he would face no consequences".
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Two days later, 41-year-old Deepak, who was a sales manager, was found hanging in his room Govindapuram, Kozhikode.
The parents of the deceased claimed that he was innocent and died out of humiliation over social media trial. They said that Deepak didn't eat for two days, including on his birthday on Saturday.
The police said that his parents knocked his door on Sunday morning to wake him up but received no response. Later, they broke the door with the help of neighbours and found him dead.
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Initially, a case of unnatural death was registered, but following complaints from the family and a review of the social media outrage against him, an investigation was carried out to examine the role of the viral video and the alleged social media trial leading up to the suicide.
The deceased's parents accused the Musthafa of assassinating him for public safety. "They further accused the woman of assassinating the victim’s character for the sake of online publicity," the family said.
(With inputs from agencies)