New Delhi:
When Nirupama Pathak died at her home in Jharkhand in the last week of April, her family claimed that it had found the 22-year-old journalist hanging from a fan in her bedroom. A suicide note was furnished; the date on it had been scribbled over. Later, police would question the authenticity of the letter.
Till earlier this week, the Jharkhand police believed that Nirupama had been killed by her own family for planning to marry a former classmate from a media institute in Delhi - a man from a different caste, whose baby she was expecting. Nirupama, who worked with the Business Standard, was in Jharkhand to visit her family when she died. Her neck was bruised. A post-mortem report established the cause of death as asphyxia. There were signs, the police said, that Nirupama had been suffocated by a pillow. The Pathaks denied the allegations, as Nirupama's mother, Sudha, was arrested for murder in May. Sudha was granted bail in August after the police failed to file a chargesheet against her.
Now, the Jharkhand police claims that reports by doctors at Delhi's AIIMS hospital suggest that Nirupama may have killed herself. Doctors at AIIMS have reassessed the earlier post-mortem report, and have studied forensic evidence.
Nirupama's story - as an alleged dishonor killing - had crow-barred away the assumption that bright modern twenty-somethings, who have moved from small towns to be a part of big-city life, can escape the caste rules wielded with unflinching authority at home.