Mystery death of girl in Varanasi hostel raises political temperature in poll-bound Bihar

Over a month after a 17-year-old girl from Bihar’s Sasaram was found hanging in her hostel room in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, her mysterious death has triggered a political row.

The teen, a Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirant, was found dead at the Rameshwaram Girls' Hostel in Varanasi’s Bhelupur area, on February 1. No suicide note was found.

Ten days later, the Uttar Pradesh Police, which first dubbed her death as a case of suicide, registered a FIR on the charge of murder the girl’s parents pointed out inconsistencies in the police version.

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Suicide to murder

Soon after, local activists lent support to the parents’ quest for justice, forcing the Uttar Pradesh Police to hastily transfer Vijay Narayan Mishra, in-charge of the Bhelupur police station, and set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the case.

It’s been nearly 45 days since and with no suspects identified and civil society groups not just from Uttar Pradesh, but also from neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand intensifying their campaign seeking justice for the deceased, the case is now taking political colour.

Earlier this week, opposition MPs from Bihar, including RJD’s Misa Bharti and Manoj Kumar Jha, CPI-ML’s Sudama Prasad and Congress’ Sasaram MP Manoj Kumar, protested in the Parliament complex demanding justice for “Bihar ki beti”.

Mounting anger

Alleging that the Uttar Pradesh Police was trying to cover up a murder case by suggesting it was suicide, the MPs condemned the growing rate of crime against women in BJP-ruled states.

The deceased girl’s parents, Sunil Kushwaha and Juhi Devi, told The Federal that in the wee hours of February 1, they made frantic calls to their daughter and subsequently to the warden of Rameshwaram Girls Hostel after her friend informed them that she had not been answering her phone.

At around 7 am, the hostel warden returned their call with the shocking news – their daughter had been found dead in her room, hanging by her dupatta.

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Three-hour delay by police

The hostel staff then informed the police, which arrived at the scene soon after, while Sunil and Juhi Devi rushed from their home in Sasaram to Varanasi, reaching the hostel at around 10:30 am.

The parents claim that their daughter’s lifeless body was lying on the bed when they arrived, apparently placed there by the police, who, for reasons still unexplained, did not send it to a hospital despite reaching the spot over three hours earlier.

Sunil said it was after he and his wife arrived at their daughter’s room that the police decided to take the body to a hospital for post-mortem, which was followed by “immediate cremation”.

Denied cremation rights, say parents

The girl’s father also alleged that the cremation was performed by the police at Varanasi’s Manikarnika Ghat while he and his wife were only allowed to witness the last rites.

Their repeated requests to take the body back to Sasaram for performing the last rites were denied without any official explanation.

Sunil claims the police pushed the ‘suicide’ narrative up until February 10 – no official case or inquest, even under Section 194 (suicide/suspicious death) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, was filed in the meantime – when they finally registered a FIR for murder under section 103 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

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Police lapses

The teen’s family has alleged that by February 10, a series of lapses in the police’s investigation had already occurred. Under the BNS, upon the discovery of the girl’s body, the police should have immediately registered an inquest under Section 194 of the BNSS and then sent it to the morgue at the nearest government-run hospital.

Under BNS, the police are also required to record on video the entire sequence of events from the time of discovery of the body till the time it is sent to a hospital as well as the scene of the suspicious death – all of which the teen’s family claims was not done.

Family ignored

The family also alleges that the police did not take their consent for conducting the post-mortem neither were they handed over the girl’s body after the same was completed, violating various provisions of law.

The Federal made multiple attempts to contact Gopal Kushwaha, the investigating officer in the case, on telephone, SMS and WhatsApp but did not get a response to queries about the police version of events and the alleged lapses in the probe.

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The suspicions

Sunil says while he and his wife were not allowed to see their daughter’s body up close, some hostel residents had clicked photographs of the girl after she was found hanging in her room.

The father alleges that he saw “injury marks” on his daughter’s neck and hands – findings that were missing from the post-mortem report.

Doubts over suicide

He told The Federal that his daughter couldn’t have taken her own life and that only a few days earlier she had spoken to her family and informed them that she was looking forward to meeting them in Sasaram soon.

What, in Sunil’s view, was the most significant indicator of the ‘suicide claim’ being a “misrepresentation” was that when the girl’s body was discovered, one of her feet was firmly on the ground while the other was on the bed placed right next to the window on whose rails she allegedly hanged herself – an unlikely situation in case of a suicide by ‘hanging’.

There was also no clarity on whether the teen’s room was locked from the inside or was open when the hostel staff discovered her body.

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CCTV footage

Another crucial detail that the police have refused to share with the parents is whether there was any CCTV footage and other evidence such as a visitor register seized from the hostel premises to determine if the girl had any visitor on that fateful day.

"We wanted to see the CCTV footage from the hostel and its surroundings, but the authorities refused to share it with us," said Sunil.

The hostel owner, Ambarish Kumar Panday, told The Federal that he was cooperating with the SIT and had provided the police “all necessary information” but could not share its details with the press as the matter was under investigation.

A theft too

If the case wasn’t already entangled enough to raise suspicions over the police version of events and initial investigation, it took an even more baffling turn some days after post-mortem of the body.

The girl’s family alleges that the gold jewellery she was wearing at the time of her death had been swapped, possibly during or after post-mortem.

Activist Devendra Bharti, who has closely followed the case, alleged that the jewellery the teen wore was exchanged with a counterfeit – a discovery the family made through the goldsmith who had it.

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Subsequently, the Uttar Pradesh Police was forced to file another FIR on February 22 invoking the charges of criminal conspiracy and theft, among others.

Outrage and politics

With protests escalating and political pressure mounting, the demand for an independent inquiry in the case has begun to intensify.

The RJD’s Aurangabad MP, Abhay Kushwaha, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah demanding a “high-level investigation” in the case.

With Assembly elections due in Bihar later this year, it is not hard to decipher why the case of a mysterious death of a backward caste girl from the state at a hostel in BJP-ruled Varanasi, which is also Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, could trigger a full-fledged political row.

(Suicides can be prevented. For help please call Suicide Prevention Helplines: Neha Suicide Prevention Centre – 044-24640050; Aasara helpline for suicide prevention, emotional support & trauma help — +91-9820466726; Kiran, Mental health rehabilitation — 1800-599-0019, Disha 0471- 2552056, Maithri 0484 2540530, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)