Team Herald
MARGAO: Margao Town Police have initiated investigation in Sadia Khatun case with the Margao Muslim Association demanding stringent action against those responsible for allegedly pushing the victim to commit suicide.
PSI Ashish Parab has been given charge of the case.
As death occurred within seven years of marriage, Sub Divisional Magistrate investigated the case. Observing that it was a suicidal death where “foul play cannot be ruled out”, the SDM vide an order dated May 8, 2019, directed the Margao Town Police Inspector to thoroughly investigate into the matter.
Demanding a thorough investigation in the matter, President of Margao Muslim Association, Kadar Shah demanded justice be delivered to the victim and ensure that such incidents should not repeat in future.
It may be recalled that on August 7, 2017 Sadia allegedly jumped from the third floor of a hotel where she was staying with her father and sister and was rushed to Hospicio. She was later shifted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim where she succumbed.
Speaking to media persons, the victim’s father Jamal Ahmed alleged that his daughter was driven to commit suicide due to the manner in which she was treated. He said being employed at the Masjid he had arranged for his daughter’s marriage with Mohammed Mehrajuddin Shiggaon and claimed that he had even paid his son-in-law a dowry amounting to lakhs of rupees.
He further alleged that his son-in-law and family started ill-treating his daughter soon after marriage as they were from Karnataka and he was from Uttar Pradesh. There were cultural differences between the husband and wife.
He had come to Goa with his daughter Sadia to resolve the problem and was scheduled to discuss the matter with the masjid committee. They were forced to stay in a hotel and not in the Masjid premises despite him working there earlier, he claimed.
He alleged that while he had gone to the Masjid for namaz, two members of the Masjid committee came to the hotel and reportedly told his daughter that her marriage cannot be saved and it would have to end in a divorce.
“Hearing this news, my daughter went into a depression and committed suicide,” he alleged and claimed that when his daughter was in two hospitals neither her husband nor any member of the family visited her despite several calls.
However, neither Kadar nor Jamal could explain why the SDM submitted his report two years after the incident even though the enquiry is supposed to be conducted on a war footing.
