A Hindu minor girl from West Bengal’s Cooch Behar committed suicide on the day of Diwali after being constantly harassed by local Muslim youth Rahul Islam who had been forcing the minor to marry him.
The deceased minor has been identified as Sonali Burman, who was a resident of Unishbisha Village of Mathabhanga -2 Block in Cooch Behar. Her dead body was recovered hanging from the fan on the day of Diwali, celebrated as Kali Puja in West Bengal. Villagers rushed to the house as soon as the word about the incident got out.
The mother of the deceased accused a Muslim youth named Rahul Islam, who stays near Ghoksadanga Station saying he had been regularly badgering her daughter. The family had received calls pressurizing them to marry off Sonali to the Muslim boy. Intimidated by the threats and harassment of Islam, and to save Sonali from the lurking threat as well, the family was preparing to marry off their underage daughter hurriedly.
Sonali’s marriage was once fixed with a boy of the family’s choice, but Rahul Islam created problems in that arrangement which led to the marriage being called off. The family somehow arranged for another groom for Sonali. The two had planned to go about seeing puja pandals on the day of Kali puja.
However, Rahul Islam, along with a female friend of his, called the groom’s party and told them various negative things and forced them to withdraw from the marriage. Sonali was devastated when she learned this and took the extreme step. The deceased minor’s mother also claims that they have all the call recordings.
Sonali’s father Uttam Burman shares that Rahul Islam had been harassing and pressurizing their daughter to marry him for a long time. Moreover, Islam had approached the victim’s father also to marry off his daughter to him, but Uttam Barman had clearly stated that a marriage with him was impossible.
But Islam continued to call the girl and pester her to marry him. The father complains about how the Muslim boy had sabotaged Sonali’s marriage multiple times. “My daughter had to commit suicide because of him (Rahul Islam) only. We will lodge a complaint against him with the police. We demand severe punishment for this boy,” demanded the bereaved father.
In recent times, cases of grooming jihad have seen a spike in rural parts of Bengal. Muslim men have been targetting Hindu women and girls regularly. These men resort to pestering, harassing, or molesting Hindu girls who refuse to reciprocate their romantic advancements. Even those women who have reciprocated their advances and married them, have often been found dead, abused, and abandoned. Unfortunately, the governing bodies of the state have done nothing to protect innocent Hindu girls from the traps of such men.
