A local Samajwadi Party leader Shamim Nomani has been arrested on the charges of abetting the suicide of freelance journalist Rizwana Tabassum after the suicide note recovered from her blamed him for taking such an extreme step. Rizwana Tabassum has contributed to portals such as The Wire, ThePrint and BBC Hindi amongst others.
“Shamim Nomani is responsible for this,” the retrieved suicide note said. Tabassum had killed herself in Harpalpur of Varanasi district on Monday.
The SSP’s PRO Sanjay Tripathi on Tuesday said that Shamim has been formally arrested. He was taken into custody and interrogated on Monday night. In addition, the PRO said that the autopsy report of journalist Rizwana Tabassum had confirmed death by hanging.
A case has been registered against Samajwadi leader Shamim Nomani on the charge of abetment to suicide under Section 306 on the complaint filed by Tabassum’s father, Varanasi Sadar CO Abhishek Pandey revealed.
Nomani and Tabassum were long-time friends but none of their acquaintances knows what may have transpired between the two for Tabassum to take such an extreme step of giving up her life. Tabassum’s grieving father lamented, “She was a good daughter as well as a good journalist. She had no enmity with anyone.”
A journalist with The Wire and The Print committed suicide
A freelance journalist, Rizawana Tabassum, was found dead in Varanasi yesterday. She took the radical decision of giving up her life by committing suicide. In her suicide note, she has accused a local youth leader associated with the Samajwadi Party as responsible for her suicide.
According to Varanasi Sadar CO, Abhishek Pandey, an FIR has been registered against Shamim Nomani, a resident of Lohta, regarding the same. As per reports, the suicide note left by the journalist said ‘Shamim is responsible’. Rizwana has contributed to portals such as The Wire, The Print and BBC Hindi among others.
