Sessions court defers order on Shimjitha’s bail plea to February 9

The Kozhikode sessions court deferred to Monday (February 9) its ruling on the bail plea of Shimjitha Musthafa, who has been charged with abetment of the suicide of 42-year-old salesman U. Deepak, whom she had accused of sexual misconduct on a moving bus in Kannur last month.

Judge V.S. Bindhukumari, after hearing the arguments of the defence counsel, wanted to know whether investigators required further custody of Shimjitha, to which the prosecution replied in the affirmative. One of the reasons the prosecution cited was that the police were looking into a complaint filed by a woman who was also in the footage Shimjitha recorded and posted on social media. Earlier, although the Kozhikode Medical College requested her custody for two days, the Kunnamangalam Judicial First Class Magistrate’s Court, which comes under the station’s jurisdiction, granted only a day’s custody.

Deepak, from Govindapuram, reportedly took his life on January 18 after a video shot and posted on Instagram by Shimjitha, 35, a postgraduate and former panchayat member of the Indian Union Muslim League, alleged that he had touched her inappropriately on a crowded moving bus at Payyannur in Kannur two days earlier. The clip sparked online harassment and is believed to be linked to his death.

At present she is lodged in Manjeri sub jail.