Kozhikode native dies by suicide after video accusing him of sexual misconduct goes viral; police to conduct detailed probe

Kerala Police are conducting a detailed investigation into the incident in which Kozhikode native Deepak committed suicide after a video accusing him of sexual misconduct went viral on social media.

The police have decided to examine the footage from the time the accused, Deepak, boarded the bus. After the police registered a case, Shimjitha Mustafa, who had made the allegations on social media, has gone into hiding. The woman posted a video on her Instagram account accusing Deepak of sexual misconduct. The police are trying to collect the real footage. The police will examine the footage from the time Shimjitha and Deepak boarded the bus. For this, the police have collected the CCTV footage from the bus.

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Based on a complaint filed by Deepak’s mother K Kanyaka, the Medical College police registered the case on Monday against the 35-year-old content creator, Shimjitha, invoking Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for posting a defamatory video on social media. Earlier, Deepak’s family had written to the Chief Minister, as well as the state and district police chiefs and the district collector, seeking justice. Subsequently, the police recorded the statement of the family.

The incident related to the case happened last Friday, when the woman uploaded a video on Instagram, accusing Deepak of sexually harassing her while travelling on a private bus in Kannur district. The clip spread rapidly across social media platforms, drawing intense public scrutiny and online debate. Within days of the video going viral, Deepak was found hanging in his house at Govindapuram early on Sunday.

The police, having earlier registered a case of unnatural death, said that further legal action would depend on the findings of a preliminary inquiry. Relatives of the deceased allege that Deepak was subjected to relentless public humiliation due to what they describe as a false and defamatory accusation. They have also approached the Chief Minister, besides the police top brass, demanding that a murder charge be registered against the woman who circulated the video.

“This is not a mere suicide; this is a death caused by character assassination,” said Deepak’s father. “My son did nothing wrong. He was publicly branded a criminal. He could not live with that shame. We lost our only son.”

Deepak’s mother recalled how her son’s behaviour changed after the video surfaced. “He stopped eating and hardly spoke. He was innocent and gentle by nature. He could not bear the humiliation. No mother should ever go through this pain,” she said.