A 35-year-old woman allegedly shot herself dead after the panchayat of her village forced her to strike a compromise with a man who had sexually harassed her. The alleged harasser, an auto-rickshaw driver from the victim’s village, was arrested by the police on Wednesday -- a day after the victim ended her life.

Police said a case had been registered in the sexual harassment case.

“ A case was registered under sections 306 (abatement to suicide) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code, and the accused was arrested and sent to jail after being presented in court on Wednesday,” said Akhilesh Narain, superintendent of police (west), Agra rural.

Police said they were identifying the panchayat members who allegedly forced the deceased to compromise with her harasser. The accused is reportedly related to the village pradhan.

“We are getting call details of various parties and are trying to identify those who conducted the panchayat. Required action will follow,” said Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police, Agra.

Police said the victim shot herself using her husband’s licensed gun on Tuesday. In a suicide note recovered, she complained that instead of the accused being punished, she was compelled to compromise, making her feel “fallen in the eyes of her husband and children”, said cops.

The victim’s husband, 55, said that her ordeal started about two week ago, when, in need of an auto rickshaw, she contacted the accused. “He saved my wife’s phone number and started making objectionable calls to her. My wife did not disclose the matter to me initially. The accused reached my house on the night of December 29 (Saturday) and pestered her to come down. He then dragged her to a lane close to the house.”

The man said as he was unaware of his wife’s problems, he questioned her about where she had gone missing. “She told me about the issue and said that the accused had been blackmailing her for a fortnight. So, the next day, I left for lodging a police complaint, but some villagers asked me to get the matter settled through the panchayat, saying it would bring bad name to the family otherwise,” said the woman’s husband standing outside the post-mortem examination house on Wednesday.

He said the panchayat convened on December 31 and worked out some compromise, forcing his wife to sign on it despite her unwillingness to do so.

“On Tuesday, my wife was very disturbed. She refused to eat and kept saying that she wanted the accused to be punished. She said she was deceived into signing the panchayat proposed compromise. Later, when I was sitting outside the house, I heard a gunshot being fired. Inside, I found my wife lying dead in a pool of blood,” said the man who works as a guard.

The next day the police sprang into action, arresting the accused who is a married man with five children.

First Published: Jan 03, 2019 12:39 IST