Kerala woman''s death: Police say suicide note led to arrests as family defends accused
Kannur , The suicide of a 40-year-old woman allegedly due to a mob trial in Kerala has triggered controversy, with police arresting three men based on clues from her suicide note, while her family has come forward to defend the arrested men and instead accused her male friend of financially exploiting her.
Raseena, a mother of three, was found dead at her home in Pinarayi village on Tuesday.
According to police, her suicide note suggested she faced public humiliation and distress caused by certain individuals, leading to the arrest of three people.
However, Raseena's mother, Fathima, said on Friday that the arrested persons are relatives who had no role in her daughter's death.
"They are innocent. The real issue is that my daughter was cheated out of her gold and money," she told reporters, adding that the family plans to lodge a complaint against the young man from Mayyil village who used to visit Raseena regularly.
"She had around 40 sovereigns of gold when she got married, but now there's nothing left. She had also borrowed money from many people. We believe that man took everything. Her husband is a respectable man and knew nothing about it," Fathima said.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that the suicide note suggested a state of emotional breakdown.
They allege that some people intimidated and defamed Raseena, even forcibly taking devices, including a mobile phone, from her friend. "She wrote that she was in a situation where she could no longer live," a police officer told reporters.
Devices were recovered from those who had a role that allegedly led to her suicide, police said. All those involved in the alleged mob trial were questioned in detail, they said.
Police added that Raseena's friend, identified as Rahees, will also be questioned to understand the full picture.
Following a note recovered from the scene, police had arrested three workers of the Social Democratic Party of India , a political offshoot of the banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India , in connection with the case.
The arrested were identified as V C Mubsheer , K A Faisal , and V K Rafnas all residents of the same area.
Police said the group allegedly questioned Raseena and her friend near a mosque, later assaulting the man and detaining him for several hours.
They allegedly took away his mobile phone and tablet and summoned family members to an SDPI office before releasing him late at night.
Responding to the suicide of the woman, a mother of three, following the alleged moral policing incident, senior CPI leader and All India Democratic Women's Association national president P K Sreemathi said what happened in that village was "Talibanism."
"It is the mindset of certain people who believe that a Muslim woman should not speak to a man who is not her husband, and it was this Taliban-like mentality that led to the young woman's suicide," Sreemathi told a news channel.
"This is not just extremism it is beyond extremism, it is sheer terror. Such terrifying acts and extremist activities must be ended," she said.
Sreemathi said this cannot be allowed to continue on Kerala's soil.
"The people of Kerala will face this head-on. This must be uprooted. We must confront this with full strength," she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
Kannur suicide: Woman's family claims no case of moral policing, police say couple was intimidated
'This (relationship) started three years ago. She has had a lot of debts since the friendship began. She was also ignoring us lately. We didn't know about the relationship until recently. The men who have been arrested don't usually cause any problems. They are our own people, my sister's sons. They intervened and questioned them since they saw the two of them together,' Raseena's mother told the media on Friday. According to the police, the woman died by suicide on Tuesday, a day after the activists harassed her. While the police have arrested three men based on the suicide note found on the body, the woman's family on Friday said the accused, who include her relatives, were not moral policing the victim. The arrested men, identified as K.A. Faisal (34), V.K. Rafnas (24), and C. Mubasheer (28), have links with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Thiruvananthapuram: Days after a 40-year-old woman died by suicide at Kayalod in Kerala's Kannur district due to alleged harassment by Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activists for talking to a male friend, conflicting narratives have emerged from the police and the woman's family. The mother claimed that the group spoke to the couple and then took the man, Rahees, to a nearby SDPI office, where the families of both were called in. 'They just asked him to settle the money,' she said. However, Kannur City Police Commissioner Nidhinraj P. refuted the family's claims and said the arrests were based on evidence found at the scene, including the suicide note. The police officer said that on the evening of the incident, which happened in the jurisdiction of the Pinarayi police station, Raseena was talking to her friend Rahees when three men approached them on motorcycles. 'They spoke in a derogatory manner, threatened them, and took away their mobile phones,' he said. The suicide note, he added, pointed to the psychological trauma she experienced during this confrontation. 'The note mentioned that several people threatened and portrayed them in a negative light, they also snatched her friend's phone. It indicated that she chose to end her life because she felt they would not be allowed to live,' Nidhinraj P. said. Based on the note and digital evidence recovered from the accused, the police took Faisal, Rafnas, and Mubasheer into custody. The commissioner noted that while the suicide note does not blame Rahees, he will be questioned to clarify the circumstances. 'Further investigation is needed to determine how many people gathered (at the SDPI office) and who among them humiliated the woman,' Nidhinraj P. said, adding that the financial allegation, made by the family, will be investigated. He added that Rahees has been missing since the incident, though he is not an accused in the case at this stage. (Edited by Viny Mishra) Also read: Highest IPC crime rate among states, most IPC chargesheets filed — what NCRB data says about Kerala
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Woman's suicide: Family denies moral policing charge, police claim evidence
Kannur: The suicide of 40-year-old Razeena at Kayalode here following moral policing by a group of SDPI members took a turn on Friday, with the woman's family defending the youths arrested on the basis of her suicide note and refuting the allegations of harassment. Police, however, maintained that they have got evidence of moral policing. Razeena, a mother of three, was found dead at her home in Pinarayi village on Tuesday. Police on Thursday arrested three members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), on charges of suicide abetment. The arrested are V C Mubsheer (28), K A Faisal (34), and V K Rafnas (24) — all residents of the locality. However, Razeena's mother, Fathima, said on Friday that the arrested youths had no role in her daughter's death. She claimed that they only spoke to Razeena and her male friend at a nearby SDPI office about their financial dealings. "Their relationship started around three years ago. The man extorted money from her, leaving her in a debt trap. But we came to know about their relationship only recently," she said. Fathima said the arrested youths are their relatives and they only intervened to settle the financial dealings. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like London: If You Were Born Between 1945-1974 You Could Be Eligible For This British Seniors Read More Undo "They saw Razeena and her friend talking to each other on the road; the man was taken to a nearby SDPI office to discuss the matter. Both the families were also called in. The man was not assaulted there," she said. Kannur city police commissioner Nithinraj, however, refuted the family's claim and said police acted on the basis of evidence collected from Razeena's house. He said Razeena was talking to her male friend when the youths approached them on a motorcycle. "They spoke in a derogatory manner and seized their mobile phones and a tablet. Later, they took the man to the SDPI office," he said. He said Razeena's suicide note clearly spoke about the trauma she underwent due to the incident. "A detailed investigation is needed to examine how many people gathered at the SDPI office. The allegations raised by the family on financial dealings between Razeena and her friend will also be investigated," he said. Razeena's family, meanwhile, lodged a police complaint against Razeena's friend, seeking an investigation of his financial dealings with her. The family alleged that the man, a resident of Mayyil, extorted money from the woman. Senior CPM leader and All India Democratic Women's Association national president P K Sreemathi termed the incident as 'Talibanism'. It is unfortunate that a section of people still believed that a woman should not talk to any other man other than her husband, she said.
New Indian Express
3 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Why bigger may not be better for Indian cities
This is true not just in India, but in other countries, too—such as the growth machines in the US and local governments in China, whose officials are often disciplined for corruption. It is understandable, therefore, if state politicians balk at handing these decisions and rents over to local representatives. By contrast, smaller cities with limited rents may stand a chance of being better governed. The GBA model is perhaps an acknowledgment of this tension with representation. It removes local politicians from decision-making and promises better coordination across civic functions. Should this be a model for the future? What if we had a trade-off, with chief ministers controlling the capital city, as in Bengaluru, but implementing the Constitution's 74th amendment—also known as the Nagarpalika Act—in letter and spirit in the other cities of the state? Could this create an open, constructively competitive ecosystem across secondary cities, resulting in a sustainable and vibrant process of urbanisation, as hoped for by the prime minister? Eventually, those in the capital cities may also demand a voice, emboldened by an encirclement of the state capital—not Mao-like from the countryside, but by smaller cities. Not only is urban governance not representative, it is often also performative. Like anti-smog guns, they have limited effectiveness but look modern and give the appearance of action. Delhi has shifted this expenditure to the private sector, but public money, too, is often spent on ineffective infrastructure that has popular support because of its performative aspect. Consider the metro rails in many cities. While in some they are both necessary and effective, they do little to solve the transportation problem in others. But residents feel proud to live in a city with a metro rail, unaware that for that cost they could have mitigated their transport woes with an effective bus system. Finally, the identity crisis. Is the urban local body an artificial administrative construct and should one instead consider the 'metropolitan area' or 'economic region' determined by commuting, spread of contiguous night lights, or just fiat? How can such regions be governed? Indeed, for cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai, such a region will spill across even state boundaries and trigger a series of other questions. Are investments such as the Namo Bharat regional rapid transit system, which takes less time to reach Meerut from Delhi than it does to reach parts of Gurugram by road, to be seen as guideposts? Is the preferred expansion of Delhi to be along this corridor? If so, should one shift defence operations to Jewar instead, and develop Hindon as a civilian airport? Where will the existing private investments along the Gurugram-Jaipur route fit into such a plan? No such questions are raised. Urbanisation has been reduced to an assorted collection of schemes and projects, scattered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that no one is interested in putting together. Maybe, each individual answer has become so lucrative that it's too troublesome to even remember there was a question. Partha Mukhopadhyay | Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, and former member, Technical Advisory Committee, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (Views are personal)
