A case of rape and abetment to suicide has been filed against the boyfriend of Delhi-based journalist Nirupama Pathak, an alleged victim of 'honour killing', following charges leveled by her arrested mother.
The FIR was lodged by the police on Friday evening on directions from a local court and investigations are going on, Koderma Superintendent of Police G Kranthi Kumar said on Saturday.
Taking cognisance of Subha Pathak's petition, Chief Judicial Magistrate N K Agarwal asked the Tilaya police to file the FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 420 (cheating) against Priyabhanshu Ranjan. All the sections are non-bailable.
When queried if Ranjan, a Delhi-based journalist, would be arrested as all the sections were non-bailable, Kumar said, "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 on May 9. Pathak, 22, 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 batch-mates from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi.
