Dalit Woman's Harassment Case Cost 3 Lives In A Year - Including Her Own

The woman's death has sparked a scathing attack by the Congress on the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government

In a stark reminder that tall claims and taller promises during election season fly in the face of ground realities, a Dalit family's fight for justice in a sexual harassment case in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar has claimed three lives in less than a year -- the latest of the complainant.

The 23-year-old woman filed a police case in 2019 against four men, alleging that they had harassed, threatened and assaulted her. Coming months before the 2020 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the case became a subject of heated political exchanges between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress.

Then the elections were over, and the accused's families started pressuring the woman to withdraw her complaint. The family refused. In August last year, a mob of hundreds beat the woman's 18-year-old brother to death. The complainant was also assaulted and her mother stripped when she tried to protect her son during the attack. Amid an outrage over the incident, nine people were charged with murder and sections of the stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also invoked. Two people were arrested and another long legal fight began.