MEERUT: The Supreme Court has ordered the
Uttar Pradesh DGP
and ADG (law and order) to form a special investigation team (SIT) to re-investigate the “unnatural death” of a 19-year-old woman, who died by suicide 10 hours after her 20-year-old friend and neighbour was allegedly beaten to death by her family. SC also quashed an
abetment of suicide case
filed against four men in connection with the woman’s death.
Tanu Saini and her neighbour Ziaul Rahman had studied together till Class 12. In 2022, Rahman was allegedly beaten to death by the woman’s family. They later said they had mistaken him for a thief who had entered their house. Ten hours later, the woman died by suicide. At the time, speculation was rife that both were in a relationship despite belonging to different religions, leading to resentment among their families. However, these claims remain unproven.
Rahman’s postmortem confirmed 14 critical injuries, shock, and haemorrhage as the cause of death. Meanwhile, the woman’s relatives accused Rahman’s family of “abetment of suicide.”
According to an FIR filed by Tanu’s uncle, Rahman’s family visited her house after his death and told her, “Due to you, Rahman was killed. Why don’t you die?” Following this, she took her own life A police officer said, “The two were in a relationship. The man went to the woman’s house at midnight but was caught by her family, who thrashed him. He suffered a head injury and died while being taken to the hospital. An FIR was filed against the woman’s family. Given the sensitivity of the case, as the deceased belonged to a different community, a heavy police presence was deployed to prevent communal tension.”
A bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Vishwanathan raised concerns over police’s handling of the case, questioning why a chargesheet was filed solely based on statements from the woman’s family. The bench also questioned whether there was more to the woman’s death. “We are today left with the one-sided version of the complainant. Was there anything more sinister?… Considering the undercurrents and the disapproval of the relationship, was there any instigation… from any other quarter? We have no answers today, and only an independent, thorough, and comprehensive investigation will bring to light the true story.”
SC criticised “serious lapses in the one-sided, partial, and inimical investigation” and directed the SIT to file detailed report in a sealed envelope in two months.
