In Indore, a social group called Paurush planned to burn effigies of several women accused of harming their husbands during the upcoming Dussehra festival. But the Madhya Pradesh High Court stepped in on Saturday and banned the idea, at least for Sonam Raghuvanshi and women from other states.
The court’s decision came after Sangeeta Raghuvanshi, Sonam’s mother, filed a petition. She argued that both she and her daughter face charges in the case, which is still playing out in a Shillong court in Meghalaya. The judges called the effigy-burning practice unacceptable in a democracy and blocked the group from targeting any women involved in criminal cases across India.
Sonam Raghuvanshi grabbed headlines earlier this year in the shocking Meghalaya honeymoon murder case. Her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, vanished on May 23 while the couple was on their trip in the East Khasi Hills district, near the famous Sohra area also known as Cherrapunji. A massive nationwide search kicked off, and Raja’s badly mutilated body turned up on June 2 in a deep ravine by a waterfall.
Sonam later surrendered to police in Uttar Pradesh, while Meghalaya investigators arrested her alleged boyfriend, Raj Kushwaha, along with three of his friends: Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kurmi. Authorities believe they all played roles in Raja’s death.
Paurush, which stands for People Against Unequal Rules Used to Shelter Harassment, was gearing up for a dramatic “Surpanakha dahan” ritual with an 11-headed effigy. Besides Sonam, the group targeted 10 other women linked to husband-killing cases—five from Uttar Pradesh and two from Madhya Pradesh. The ban puts a stop to that plan in Indore for now.
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