Sarpanch booked for abetting suicide

Rajkot: The police at Prabhas-Patan in Gir-Somnath district late night on Wednesday booked three persons including the sarpanch of Sidokar village in Veraval taluka for abetment of suicide of a 50-year-old-woman who died due to severe burn injuries after a self-immolation bid at her residence.
On March 27, Manjuben Parmar immolated herself at Sidokar village after the gram panchayat razed her house.She was rushed to the civil hospital in Junagadh where she died on Wednesday night. The husband of the deceased, Jilubhai Parmar, lodged a complaint against village sarpanch Sattar Kadar, deputy sarpanch Mohmmad Bhikhubhai, and one Anwar Kadar for abetment of suicide. Based on the complaint, the trio were booked by police.
Parmar alleged in his complaint that prior to the demolition, the accused used to threaten and mentally harass his wife. Manjuben took this extreme step because of harassment by the sarpanch and other members of the village panchayat. According to sources, the village panchayat had carried out demolition of illegal houses amid police bandobast on March 27.
"When police reached the spot, Manjuben came out from her hut and she was burning as she had already doused herself in kerosene and immolated herself," police said. "We have deployed adequate security at the village for final rites of the deceased woman. We have booked the village sarpanch and two others and are probing the case," said K L Vinjuda, inspector, Prabhas-Patan police station.
He said that Manjuben's son Suresh Parmar (20) had also tried to immolate himself on March 27, but he was prevented by villagers. "We are also probing whether the land on which Parmar's family was living, is illegal or not," Vinjuda added.