Kerala woman doctor's suicide; Minister orders probe into dowry allegations
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 7: Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Wednesday ordered a probe into the death of a young woman doctor who died allegedly of suicide here on December 5.
Shahana, a 26-year-old postgraduate doctor at the surgery department in the Government Medical College here, was found unconscious at her apartment and later declared brought dead at the hospital, police had said.
Medical College police, which registered a case of unnatural death, has started a probe and recorded statements of the deceased doctor's relatives. Though police didn't divulge much details, sources said a purported suicide note was recovered from the apartment in which the victim has stated that "everybody wants money only".
In a statement, George said the probe was ordered after allegations of dowry related issues causing the suicide cropped up.
Directions have been given to the director of the Women and Child Development Department to carry out a probe and submit a report, she said.
The state Minority Commission also intervened into the issue and initiated a case on its own based on media reports in this regard.
Its Chairperson A A Rasheed directed district collector, city police commissioner and director of medical education to appear before the Commission during its next sitting here on December 14 and submit a report on the incident, an official statement said.
Persons close to the deceased's family alleged that Shahana was depressed as her friend, who was also a doctor, backed out of their marriage citing dowry as the reason.
Though Shahana's family was ready to give dowry, the groom's family had later demanded a heftier amount which the former was unable to meet, a local councillor alleged.
"They demanded a huge amount as dowry and later backed out from the proposal. Dr Shahana was depressed over that," the councillor alleged.
State Women's Commission Chairperson P Sathidevi visited Dr Shahana's home in nearby Venjaramoodu and consoled her mother.
The victim's father, who was working in the Middle East, died recently.
Expressing grief and concern over the alleged suicide of the young doctor, Sathidevi said stringent measures should be taken if the mental agony caused due to dowry had forced her to take the extreme step.
A serious and comprehensive probe should be carried out into the incident, she demanded.
The women's panel chairperson also said youngsters should be prepared to say no to marriages involving dowry.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
