Salem suicide case: Head constable suspended

Salem: A day after a 21-year-old girl hanged herself, depressed over  the posting of a morphed obscene picture on the Facebook,  the Salem police has swiftly suspended a head constable who got a free mobile phone from the girl’s father to probe into the cyber crime case. The Salem city cyber crime head constable, Suresh Kumar, who demanded and got a mobile phone for probing the morphed picture posted on the Facebook has been placed under suspension, the Salem SP, Amit Kumar Singh told DC.

The superintendent of police also apologised to the parents of  Vinipriya for the alleged “inaction” of the cops which led to her suicide. Following the SP’s apology, the parents of the girl agreed to receive her body after the post-mortem. “We are probing into the complaint against Magundanchavadi sub-inspector Prakash who allegedly harassed the girl Vinipriya when she lodged a complaint about her  morphed semi-nude picture posted on the Facebook,” the SP told DC. But the SP claimed that the suicide note left behind by the girl did not mention about the alleged harassment by the police during the inquiry into the case. On June 23, Vinipriya was shocked to see her picture doctored to create a semi-nude image and posted on the Facebook page. Immediately she informed her parents, who lodged a complaint with the district SP Amit Kumar Singh.

From then on, the complaint  went through a bureaucratic maze, but the victim got no relief. From the SP’s office, the girl was asked to meet the Sankagiri DSP, who directed the girl to go to the Magudanchavadi police. Finally, the family was asked to approach the Salem city cyber crime police. The family pleaded with the cyber crime police to get the Facebook postings removed. But cybercrime head constable Suresh Kumar demanded a free mobile phone for probing the case. The girl’s father, a powerloom owner, got him a mobile phone worth Rs 2000. Yet there was no relief, Instead, on Sunday, fresh obscene pictures were loaded, which eventually forced Vinipriya, a B.Sc graduate,  to take her own life.  However, Sankagiri DSP C.P.Kandasamy claimed , “ It is wrong to say that the police tortured her. In her suicide note, the girl has said that her parents had harassed her. But the line has been struck out. “The police have obtained crucial clues about the identity of the culprit who had posted the Facebook pictures and will nab him soon, the DSP said.