Man stoned to death; cops feel act of self-defence

The police are yet to register a case against three women who stoned a man to death in Kanpur on May 13, for repeatedly molesting one of the...

The police are yet to register a case against three women who stoned a man to death in Kanpur on May 13, for repeatedly molesting one of them.

SSP Kanpur Prem Chand Meena said, ‘‘With inquiries still going on, it seems to be a clear-cut case of self-defence. This is the reason no case has yet been registered against the accused.’’

The molestation allegedly began a few months after Mridula married Kamal Kant, a labourer in Delhi. Her brother-in-law Sri Kant started molesting her, she said. ‘‘From the

first year of our marriage in 1993, when my husband used to leave for Delhi for work, Sri Kant used to make sexual advances towards me. Soon he started molesting me,’’ said Mridula. ‘‘I chose to keep mum for quite some time, thinking of the shame this revelation would bring me and my family. But with Sri Kant making it a practice, I tried to discuss the matter with my husband.’’

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Kamal Kant, who returned from Delhi only two days ago, said he was helpless in the matter. He told The Indian Express, ‘‘My brother was an alchoholic. Whenever I raised this issue and rebuked him, he got violent and we ended up hitting each other.’’

In 1998, Mridula, a mother of two, moved to her brother Sanjay Tiwari’s house at Barra, in Kanpur. She started working as a helper at a primary school. But Sri Kant started visiting her there and allegedly even molested her at gunpoint. He also allegedly ‘‘misbehaved’’ with Mridula’s sister-in-law, Anita. They both then decided to tell Mridula’s mother, Durga Devi.

The women conspired to kill Sri Kant and on the night of May 13, when he reached Mridula’s house, allegedly in an inebriated state, they had a heated argument with him. ‘‘It was then we hit him with a stone and later strangled him to death,’’ admitted Mridula.

Barra Station Officer Adil Rashid Khan claimed Sri Kant was in police records for murdering the Banda Gram Pradhan two years ago and for a case of dacoity a year ago.